Floyd Mayweather. Look what the guy did for the sport this year! In the midst of the whole "MMA Takeover" Floyd Mayweather won 2 fights that pretty much put Boxing back on the map. He also showed his versatility in stepping up to 150lbs to beat a very technical boxer/puncher for his title, and then came back down to KO one of the best P4P fighters in the sport, a come forward swarmer. Cases can be made for Pavlik and Cotto, yeah, but I think the answer here is clear. In Pavliks case, Miranda is a very limited fighter and unproven. In Cottos case, Judah loses to everyone. Floyd fought two very game, proven to be elite fighters and won.
Pavlik. Stopped the unstopable Zertuche, backed up Miranda, came back after knocked down by Taylor KTFOed the guy.
Definetly Pavlik, I neve heard of him in 2006, and just in one year he becomes number 1 at middle. Cotto is close second.
Third day results : Pavlik is going to be fighter of the year : Pavlik = 16 Cotto = 9 Mayweather = 8 Diaz = 2 Wlad = 1 Calzaghe = 1 Haye = 1