Floyd Mayweather Wins ESPY for 'Fighter of the Year' over Ward and UFC Stars

In a moment the currently jailed Floyd Mayweather Jr. may not have seen coming, the current two-division title holder won "Fighter of the Year" at ESPN's 2012 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles Wednesday.

In the year included in the awards, Mayweather beat welterweight, Victor Ortiz (per ESPN), via controversial knockout back in September of 2011 and this past May beat junior middleweight, Miguel Cotto, in a exciting bout (per ESPN).

Beating out super Middleweight boxing champ in Andre Ward, and UFC stars Jon Jones and Anderson Silva is a big deal, not just to Mayweather, but to boxing as a sport.

For Mayweather, the win shows that he is still the biggest draw in the sport, despite what Manny Pacquiao or anyone else claims.

For boxing, it displays that even though everyone says boxing is dying, the sports biggest draw still beat out the two biggest stars in the UFC in a fan vote; furthering the case that boxing is not dead.

Another good sign for Mayweather and boxing is that, despite Mayweather's current 87-day jail sentence (per ESPN), the fighter is still popular amongst the fans. The popularity means boxing's cash cow will be earning big bucks and ratings for as long as Mayweather continues in the ring.

The ESPY is Mayweather's fourth in the six years since the "Fighter of the Year" award was added to the show. Pacquiao won the the two times that Mayweather didn't, once in 2011 and before that in 2009, but was not included in this year's list of nominees.