By Mark Vester

Several fighters were on top of the world and saw their stock come crashing down in 2008. All of them are young enough to recover and reclaim the footing they lost in the last twelve months. We take a look at some of the names who were red hot in 2008 and saw their stocks take a big hit.

Kelly Pavlik - Considered one of the best in the world after knocking out Edison Miranda and winning two back to back fights over Jermain Taylor. He saw his career take a massive hit after he moved up to 170-pounds to face Bernard Hopkins, and the 43-year-old veteran dominated him over twelve rounds. He suffered his first loss, but was lucky enough to still hold the WBO/WBC middleweight titles and returns on February 21 against mandatory Marco Antonio Rubio. He shouldn't have too many problems with Rubio and a unification with Arthur Abraham could be next.

Miguel Cotto - He was battered and bruised in his July knockout loss to Antonio Margarito. After nearly half a year away from the ring, Cotto's return is set for February 21 against Michael Jennings for the vacant WBO welterweight title. Jennings will be easy pickings for Miguel. A chance for revenge is already set for June when he faces Margarito for a second time. The bout with Jennings will be a telling fight to see if the war with Margarito took anything away from him.

Amir Khan - Built up as the next star of the UK, Khan's entire career was nearly derailed after suffering a 54-second knockout to Breidis Prescott in September. He came back in impressive fashion in December by stopping Oisin Fagin in two rounds, but has a long way to go to get himself back to where he was. He now has trainer Freddie Roach at his side and a rematch with Prescott will probably happen by the end of 2009.

Samuel Peter - Viewed as the number two heavyweight - that recognition fell apart when was dominated and stopped by Vitali Klitschko in October. He wants to return in style in 2009 and already issued challenges to such fighters as Chirs Arreola. 

Cristian Mijares - Regarded as one of the pound for pound best in the world when he met Vic Darchinyan in a unification bout. In a major upset, Mijares was dominated and knocked out by Darchinyan. He may move up in weight to bantamweight to win a title and set up a rematch with Darchinyan at some point in 2009.

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