By Cliff Rold
It is one of the rare sports which see its seasons pass only with the turning of the calendar. Judged end to end, this was another strong season for Boxing. As 2007 reached its end, Boxing fans were abuzz about the possibilities for the year ahead, having experienced one of the best years so far of the 2000s. It started with a slow build and culminated with a flurry of action in bouts like Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor I, Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler, and Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton.
2008 was different; it started with a roar, building on the previous year’s momentum only to hit somewhat of a lull before a powerful finish. The summer months featured sporadic if often excellent action and lots of attention was paid to the increasingly non-contact nature of Olympic Boxing.
Fall fights like Kelly Pavlik-Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones found massive hype but did little to stoke public attention. The December battle between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya, and sensational free cable card topped by Tomasz Adamek-Steve Cunningham, made up for it.
Boxing’s biggest ills continued to be apparent in 2008. The best continue to fight less often than they used to, stunting momentum for new names and making each loss far more cataclysmic than it need be. Worse, short schedules make mis-matches more visible and, given the amount of money involved in television dates, less acceptable than ever.
However, the sport also displayed its virtues in memorable wars, validating veteran moments and the emergence of thrilling new faces. Viewed as a whole, it is difficult to say 2008 was better than 2007, but not so hard to call it equal.
Over the next two days, BoxingScene recognizes the best of the year that was with eyes, as always, turned to the anticipated future thrills of 2009. These are the 208 year-end awards as voted on by site staff, beginning with a couple of ties.
Knockout of the Year: (tie) Juan Urango-Carlos Vilches/Breidis Prescott-Amir Khan
With twin totals in first place votes, the first of BoxingScene’s knockouts of the year is the one which came first. In his only outing of the year on April 23rd, former Jr. Welterweight titlist Juan Urango scored a brutal one-punch destruction of the veteran Vilches in his only outing of the year. Following an earlier knockdown in the first round, Urango trapped Vilches on the ropes in the fourth with a left to the chest which dropped Vilches’ defenses for a fraction of a second. Urango exploded through the opening with a right hook, sending Vilches to the canvas with a thud.
Urango’s bang was matched and perhaps exceeded in terms of drama on September 6th. Highly touted 2004 British Olympic Silver Medalist Amir Khan had moved into the top ten at Lightweight and looked on his way to the global big money spotlight. The only question was his chin, Khan having been dropped and hurt a few times in his early career. Optimism remained that Khan would overcomes met the undefeated Colombian Prescott and the express train to stardom was blown off the tracks in less than one minute. Prescott wobbled Khan right away with a jab, then a right, before a pair of left hooks left Khan on the seat of his pants. Khan rose and rocked on his feet, planted into the canvas seconds later with a final left hook which left him laid out under a ring corner at only :54 seconds of the first.
Honorable Mention: Edison Miranda KO3 David Banks; Arthur Abraham TKO4 Edison Miranda; Kendall Holt KO1 Ricardo Torres; Ali Funeka KO4 Zahir Raheem; Antonio Margarito TKO11 Miguel Cotto; Juan Manuel Lopez KO1 Cesar Figueroa
Comeback of the Year – (tie) Vic Darchinyan & Bernard Hopkins
Comeback, in Boxing, used to mean a fighter returning to glory after some serious time off from the ring or a series of losses which seemed to announce an end. In recent years, bouncing back from single losses has come to represent a comeback as well. It’s a byproduct of a sport which has seen its best go from fighting regularly to making occasional appearances. Judged in those terms, it results in equal first place votes for both Darchinyan and Hopkins.
Darchinyan was knocked out brutally in 2007 by Nonito Donaire and appeared, already past the age of 30, to have peaked. Instead, he scaled new heights in 2008 by capturing the IBF 115 lb. belt from Dimitri Kirilov and added the WBC and WBA straps against Cristian Mijares. He went from written off to written about with praise this year.
The ageless (okay, 43-year old) Hopkins, the former Middleweight king, was the least traditional comeback but met the spirit of the concept. Since toppling Antonio Tarver in 2006 for the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight belt, he’d looked ordinary and even old against Winky Wright in 2007 and Joe Calzaghe early in 2008. Facing current World Middleweight king Kelly Pavlik in October, he looked like the legend and all-time great he’d proven to be long ago. He didn’t just win the fight; he won almost every second of every round in his most complete performance since Felix Trinidad in 2001. The Hopkins of old came back for another night and produced a gem worth any accolade.
Honorable Mention: Vitali Klitschko, who returned for the first time since 2004 to stop WBC Heavyweight titlist Sam Peter
Best Event – The Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik II Card
Whether it has been in stadium shows, closed circuit, or on pay-per-view terms, Boxing has always been defined by its biggest and best shows. The first anointed mega-show of 2008 was a throwback to older days when cards were stacked with some of the world’s best in the main event and below and secures the nod here by a single staff vote.
Taylor-Pavlik I had been no less than the second best fight of 2007 and their rematch on February 16th was decorated with bouts which on paper looked as promising as their second go. Three of the world’s four best, and four of the ten best, Jr. Bantamweights in the world. Rounding out the evening, promising Jr. Middleweight and legacy hopeful Ronald Hearns was shown off to the world. An all-Mexican showdown between Fernando Montiel and Martin Castillo was paired with Mijares versus 2000 U.S. Olympian Jose Navarro provided bona fides and laid the groundwork for a banner year at 115 lbs.
On fight night, Taylor and Pavlik turned in a worthy rematch while Montiel blasted out Castillo in four, ending his career. Mijares and Navarro merely turned in a fast-paced, competitive chess match which could have been the main event of a lesser show and left fans happy. Making a solid card isn’t rocket science. A solid main event, some world class pick ‘ems and a look at tomorrow; the Pavlik-Taylor II show had it all and was, for the fan dollar, the best event of the year.
Honorable Mention – Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz; Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto; Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez II
Worst Event – The Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya Card
More fan dollars were spent on viewing this one than any other card in 2008 and while the main event was satisfying, what came before it was positively dreadful. It didn’t look outstanding before fight night with multiple ‘new star’ set-ups on tap. The triumvirate of Juan Manuel Lopez-Sergio Medina, Victor Ortiz-Jeffrey Resto and Daniel Jacobs-Victor Lares turned out even worse than could have been expected. Lares was out of his depth while Resto and Medina hardly seemed ready or capable of mounting tests. The sum total of five rounds achieved in those three bouts meant what felt like hours (which it almost was) of endless filler. Mia St. John and Butterbean were more fun than this was.
Pre-main analysis went almost to bowel movement reporting dimensions. For $54.95 (more in High-Definition), the proportion of time spent looking at and listening to the HBO announce crew should never equal more time than was spent watching two guys punch each other. Most appalling is that, when lacking super main events, both Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, the show promoters, have put on outstanding cards in recent years. Why they choose not to do so consistently on the nights when the most people are watching is primary evidence for why Boxing is locked in such mortal combat with the regularly stacked cards provided by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Dishonorable Mention – Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones; at least their lousy undercard saw some rounds
Breakout Star of 2009 – Yuriorkis Gamboa
Even as modern Boxing continues to see men successful into middle age in ways that feel unfamiliar, it is still the new blood which gets the heart racing. Any sport is only as good as the talent to come. The staff was divided in multiple directions depending on how the term breakout star was individually defined with only one fighter securing more than a single first place vote.
An amateur defector from Cuba, Gamboa provides not only eye-catching thrills but enough suspense to make him must-see every time he’s in the ring. In 2008, he posted a 4-0 mark with three knockouts, running his record to 12-0 with 10 stoppages. His opponents sported a combined record of 88-6-1 and Gamboa moved into the BoxingScene top ten at Jr. Lightweight while displaying elite level hand speed and finishing touch. He also hit the deck for the second and third times in his career in his second bout against Darling Jimenez and fourth against undefeated Marcos Ramirez, both on HBO, to raise questions about loose and lax professional defense.
Whether Gamboa is a future star or next to suffer an Amir Khan level disaster, 2009 will be a fascinating year. We’re betting on the former.
Honorable Mention – Chad Dawson, Victor Ortiz, Juan Manuel Lopez, Manny Pacquiao, Daniel Jacobs
Tomorrow: Fighter, Fight, and Round of the Year
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com