It was a good year. Thanks, Manny Pacquiao!
It was a surprising year. Thanks, Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Margarito.
It was a tough year. Get well, Genaro Hernandez.
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| Manny Pacquiao easily handled Oscar De Le Hoya in early December. (Getty Images) |
I'm not sure where boxing is headed in 2009, which looms as the first year in the post Oscar De La Hoya era. But there was plenty to celebrate. Frustration, too. Awards, like re-gifting on Christmas, are an annual ritual. Keep some. Forget others. But any year-ender is just a collection of memories.
Here are 15, good and bad, for every round:
- It's almost a redundancy to call Pacquiao the best of 2008. He has been called Fighter of the Year more often than he hit a defenseless De La Hoya in the seventh and eighth rounds on Dec. 6. Those weren't the best rounds of the year. But they were most stunning of any.
- Margarito's energy was relentless in a stubborn assault during the late rounds against Miguel Cotto, who just looked like somebody trying to get out of the way of a force of nature. Julio Cesar Chavez used to wear a red headband. Since Chavez, no Mexican has worn it, almost as if he owned it, like Margarito did Cotto.
- Hopkins. I haven't seen Hopkins listed among Comeback of the Year candidates. Maybe, that's because he's always making some kind of comeback in a career -- perhaps life -- full of resurrections that continued against Kelly Pavlik in an upset that made fools of prognosticators, including this one.
- Freddie Roach. If he doesn't get every vote for Trainer of the Year, then a voter must be one of those judges who scored it for Nikolai Valuev over Evander Holyfield. Roach also gets a vote for Prophet of the Year and even Matchmaker of the Year. In so accurately predicting that De La Hoya couldn't "pull the trigger," he talked him into fighting and failing against Pacquiao.
- Rogers Mtagwa against Tomas Villa in the 10th in Tucson. In a year loaded with great rounds, this one stands out because it was delivered by two unknown guys, who -- for a few furious moments -- made themselves the equal of bigger names. Mtagwa was down in the ninth. In the 10th, sudden right hands from Mtgwa knocked out Villa. In a Telefutura curtain closer, it was an exhibition of the stuff, the right stuff, that keeps boxing alive on so many levels.
- Israel Vazquez's victory over Rafael Marquez in March is being called the Fight of the Year by many, in part because it turned a trilogy into history. Is a four-peat possible? Encores are tough to do, but this one might be tougher not to.
- Juan Manuel Marquez. He is a nagging reminder that Pacquiao, although the best, is not unbeatable. There are a lot of people who still think that Marquez got robbed in a decision that went to Pacquiao in March in the rematch of a draw. It is another reminder that, yes, styles make fights. Styles also sometimes stand in the way of a rematch, especially if you're Pacquiao.
- Joe Calzaghe. His mouth is sometimes as busy as his hands. Yeah, he is annoying, especially when he talks about the demise of boxing. His criticism of De La Hoya failed to account for Pacquiao's brilliance and a couple of potential blockbusters against Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Those are fights that could relieve the battered game all over again. But Calzaghe is also very good, good enough to be No. 2 or No. 3 on any pound-for-pound list.
- Never has silence been so memorable. Never thought I'd say this, either, but I almost miss hearing from Mayweather. Actually, I miss seeing him in the ring. He can reclaim that pound-for-pound perch with his singular talent, but he has to be willing to take a chance, too. There's no danger in a rematch with Ricky Hatton in the first step of a comeback. The big gamble would be Pacquiao.
- Welcome back John McCain. Arizona's senior senator won't be in the White House, but he plans to get back into the ring and resume his pursuit of a federal boxing commission. In a wide-ranging interview with him about 10 days ago, he said he felt compelled to put some teeth into the Muhammad Ali Act with further legislation. Sometimes, you wonder if anybody outside a so-called fringe sport cares. McCain does.
- Bah Humbug is another way of saying Bah Heavyweights. Yeah, a terrible decision went against Holyfield, who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is protesting his loss to Valuev for the World Boxing Association's version of the title. The protest is a way for him to stay in the ring and in line for money he reportedly needs. Meanwhile, the fight was just a reason to say that not only he should retire, Valuev should, too.
- Juan Diaz. Just when I was about to ask whatever-happened-to, his name pops up as an opponent for Juan Manuel Marquez on Feb. 28 in Houston. Finally, Diaz appears ready to emerge from the mess in the war of words in his fallout with Don King. Finally, an important prospect is back in a mix that promises to sustain the sport for the next couple of years.
- Victor Ortiz. A lot of people continue to call him a prospect. Maybe, but he looked like somebody close to his potential in a victory on the undercard of Pacquiao's victory over De La Hoya, whose battered and bruised face was softened up in training camp with a tell-tale black eye in sparring with Ortiz.
- For Hernandez, it's cancer. For Oscar Diaz, it was a head injury in the ring. They're good fighters and better people. Pray for them.
- Happy Holidays.
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