By Jake Donovan

Step to a boxing fan this time last year with talk that this sport is dead, and the best argument that could be offered in return was that it's merely in recession. Some wouldn't even bother putting up a fight, instead conceding defeat and shuffling off to the nearest MMA event.

Try talking that mess this year, and you can best believe you're nonsense will be contested. If not, it's because we're remaining silent while shaking our collective heads in embarrassment over the quarter-year you missed.

Most other sports enjoy their biggest moments in their season ending championships, meaning the best playing the best to decide the absolute best. How remarkable it's been for boxing, with that in mind, that it gets off to such a great start without the benefit of its best and/or biggest stars in action.

The one thing the first three months has been in short supply of, was knockouts. It took until the second weekend in March to have a major main event end inside the distance, with the night providing two – David Haye's 2nd round blitzing of Enzo Maccarinelli, and Samuel Peter's highlight-reel finishing of Oleg Maskaev in six rounds of heavyweight action.

Just outside of the top level, Edison Miranda made his presence felt in the super middleweight division, leaving David Banks limp along the ropes with a 3rd round knockout that still has Joe Tessitore gushing.

The latest entries came in the final weekend of March, on Telefutura and Telemundo.

The Telefutura main event was a double treat, producing an impressive knockout and a major upset all in one shot. Late replacement Cornelius Lock stopped highly touted prospect Juanito Garcia with an uppercut to the midsection in the 4th round, snatching his "0" in the process.

A couple of hours later on Telemundo, Jose Reyes incredibly overcoming three knockdowns to score a hat trick of his own, the last of which flattened Ivan Valle for good. All of that in just four rounds of lightweight action, six days after the division's linear champion, Joel Casamayor rallied from behind to knock out Michael Katsidis in their 10-round thriller on HBO.

Katsidis recovered from two knockdowns in the opening minute to take control of the bout by the fourth round. Round six saw Casamayor knocked out of the ring, and forced to go tit-for-tat with Katsidis the rest of the way before catching up to the previously unbeaten Aussie early in the 10th, dropping him with a left hand. Katsidis was in no shape to continue, but was given the opportunity to absorb about ten more seconds of punishment before eventually being rescued.

The two lightweight bouts rank among the year's best fights to date, but arguably don't rate as the division's biggest story. That honor would go to 36-year old Nate Campbell, who turned back the clock with a domination of Juan Diaz, lifting his "0" and all of the alphabet hardware he brought to the party in the process. The bout was among several major upsets in the first three months of 2008.

The first major upset of the year might possibly still be the biggest. If anyone honestly gave Alex Bunema any chance of upending Roman Karmazin, they certainly didn't allow their voice to be heard prior to their January PPV preliminary bout. The fight was part of the Roy Jones-Felix Trinidad event at Madison Square Garden, but quickly became the night's biggest story after Karmazin, at the time a world-ranked junior middleweight and up on all three scorecards, was knocked out in the tenth round.

Three weeks later and one division lower, Paul Williams, after allowing his publicists to label him "boxing's most feared fighter", found himself on the very wrong end of a boxing lesson against a resurging Carlos Quintana on HBO. The last vision of Quintana for most was the Puerto Rican southpaw quitting on his stool after five rounds of bruising action against Miguel Cotto 14 months prior, which had very few convinced he stood a chance against Williams, seven months removed from his career best win over Antonio Margarito. The very few who believed in Quintana were the very few to correctly predict the outcome, which was a surprisingly convincing upset decision.

It wasn't quite on the same level, but BJ Flores silenced some of critics with a masterful boxing performance against Darnell Wilson in their ESPN2-televised cruiserweight bout. Flores, a one-time gifted amateur, at times had Wilson appearing to be devoid of skill, while other times resorting to plenty of movement in his greatest efforts to avoid the compact cruiserweight's massive punching power. The latter tactic is what infuriated his remaining critics, but it still went in the books at the end of the night as a unanimous decision.

ESPN2 would play host to two more upsets, coming in back-to-back weekends, and both involving Contender alumni.

First it was Season Three's Brian Vera, who last year couldn't last two rounds with Jaidon Codrington, and for a moment appeared as if he wouldn't last one against red-hot prospect, Andy Lee. Vera found himself on the canvas in the opening round, but dusted himself off and took the fight to the undefeated Irishman. What began as a mismatch developed into a bloody slugfest, which ended with the referee rescuing Lee from further punishment.

One week later, Cornelius "K9" Bundrage scored the biggest win of his career, outlasting former top junior middleweight Kassim Ouma. The end result wasn't as shocking as – nor was the action anywhere near that of – Vera's knockout win over Lee, but was still one to upset the odds at the end of the night, with Bundrage overcoming a first-round cut to outhustle Ouma and take a split decision.

The two surprising outcomes served as bookends for a shocker in St. Louis, when 38-year old Verno Phillips traveled to the "show-me-state" Missouri to upset hometown favorite Cory Spinks in their Internet-streamed main event. Spinks was a 6-1 favorite to leave the Scottrade Center with his alphabet hardware still intact, but two of the three judges were impressed just enough with Phillips' workrate to score it in favor of the old veteran.

Another old pro who punched his way back into contention was Javier Juaregui, who managed to outwork resurging lightweight Miguel Angel Huerta in their Telefutura main event in mid-March. Huerta was the sentimental favorite among the Chicagoland crowd, but had a difficult time fending off a determined Juaregui, who always manages to resurface the moment he's written off.

Roy Jones has also managed to resurrect his career thanks to his dominant performance against Felix Trinidad in their January clash of faded legends. Jones scored two knockdowns and often played to the crowd throughout their twelve rounder, extending his winning streak to three wins. It may not sound like much, but it's a hell of a lot better than the steak that preceded it – three straight losses, with his last win coming in November 2003. The win over Trinidad and the PPV success (over 500,000 buys) proved that while he's not all the way back, Jones still has something left to offer the sport.

Jones and Trinidad were easily the biggest names to appear in the first three months of the year, but hardly the sport's best. It was at the top level which produced several of the year's best fights to date.

The first notable entry came in mid-February, when Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor met in Las Vegas for their highly anticipated rematch. The two provided one of the best fights of 2007, with Pavlik rallying from a second round knockdown and a deficit on the scorecards to knock out Taylor in seven rounds to claim the middleweight crown.

The rematch was fought at a catchweight of 164 lb, which meant not as much at stake. While the bout lacked the knockdowns and the sheer brutality of their first fight, there were plenty of momentum shifts throughout a 12-round affair fought at a high skill level. In the end, it was Pavlik once again emerging victorious, though Taylor can now embark on a super middleweight campaign knowing that his career is still very much alive and kicking.

As good as the main event was, what made the pay-per-view card worth the price of admission and then some was the action from the supporting cast. A pair of junior bantamweight bouts managed to entertain for different reasons. Cristian Mijares proved himself to be an outside pound-for-pound candidate with a brilliant mix of boxing and brawling against former Olympian Jose Navarro. The only black mark on their bloody 12-round battle being the dubious scoring, as Mijares was forced to settle for a split decision in a bout he clearly won.

The best way to avoid controversial scoring is to take it out of the judges' hands. Fernando Montiel did just that in the evening's co-feature, tearing through former divisional top dog Martin Castillo in four surprisingly one-sided rounds. If nothing else, the table would be set for a possible Montiel-Mijares clash to determine junior bantamweight supremacy.

Junior lightweight supremacy was finally decided in mid-March, even if the final outcome wasn't of the most conclusive circumstances. For the second time in four years, fans were split on the outcome of a 12-round bout between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. A scoring discrepancy in the first bout was the difference between Pacquiao, who dropped Marquez three times in the opening round, receiving a split decision and the actual draw verdict that came about. This time, it was the bout's single knockdown which provided the margin of victory, with Pacquiao taking a split decision in a bout that could've been – and was – scored either way.

It would prove to be a rough month for the brothers Marquez, who went 0-2 in the month of March, with one point being the margin of defeat in each bout. The month began with Rafael Marquez reviving his rivalry with junior featherweight kingpin Israel Vazquez. The duo managed to produce 2007's Fight of the Year with their unforgettable rematch last summer, won by Vazquez via 6th round stoppage. The win avenged a loss to Marquez five months prior, with Vazquez forced to concede after seven rounds of bruising action due to an inability to breathe through a broken nose suffered earlier in the bout.

As thrilling as were the first two bouts, the rubber match managed to surpass them. Both fighters found themselves receiving an eight-count from referee Pat Russell. Vazquez hit the deck early in the bout for the first time in the trilogy, quickly recovering and outperforming Marquez over the back sixth. With the fight in the balance in the twelfth and final round, Vazquez closed strong, dominating the three-minute frame, capped by a late surge that had Marquez out on his feet, with the ropes the only thing from preventing his fall. Russell correctly ruled it a knockdown, the third time in as many fights with Vazquez that Marquez had received an eight-count. It, along with a 10th round point deduction for repeated low blows, cost him in the end, with Vazquez taking a well-deserved split decision to cap arguably the greatest – or at least most action-packed – trilogy in boxing history.

It was the heavy lifting by the lower weights which compensated for the now lightly regarded heavyweights, perhaps the only blemish in an otherwise spectacular three-month stretch. The worst of the late came in late February, when Wladimir Klitschko played it safety-first against Sultan Ibragimov en route to a dull, yet decisive unanimous decision in the first heavyweight alphabet unification bout in nine years.

Knowing that Klitschko would have to spend the rest of 2008 facing mandatories didn't exactly ease the pain. Especially considering that a January eliminator proved that highly touted prospect Alexander Povetkin isn't quite ready for prime time. The 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist decisively defeated previously unbeaten American challenger Eddie Chambers, but still remains a work in progress, not the type of status you want to boast when your next planned bout is against the world's best heavyweight.

Not all was lost among boxing's big boys. Along with Samuel Peter's aforementioned knockout win, Klitschko also has undefeated southpaw Ruslan Chagaev standing in his way of heavyweight immortality. Chagaev was impressive in a January optional defense against Matt Skelton, scoring a unanimous decision while awaiting his next mandatory challenger. His next foe is a familiar face - Nicolay Valuev, who saw his 46-fight unbeaten streak ended last April at the hands of Chagaev. Valuev returns to the title picture thanks to a February shutout win over Sergei Lyakhovich in what was easily the best performance of his career.

If that's not enough to get you excited about the future of the heavyweight division, then how about the thought of new blood? Such is the plan should linear cruiserweight king David Haye stay true to his promise and pursue heavyweight dollars, while hoping to restore heavyweight glory. The charismatic Brit insisted that his knockout of Enzo Maccarinelli would be his last fight as a cruiserweight, with plans of working his way up the heavyweight ladder until the titlists are free from mandatory challenges.

What the first three months were free of, were the sport's biggest names sitting on the sidelines, either due to return in the spring, or still planning their next move. The sport's very best fighter, Floyd Mayweather Jr continues to explore mainstream exposure, with his next fight not coming until September, and most likely against Oscar de la Hoya, who in May will face Steve Forbes on HBO, his first non-PPV bout since 2001.

Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe return against one another in mid-April, also on HBO. Their light heavyweight bout precedes Miguel Cotto's return to the non-PPV circuit following a breakthrough 2007 campaign. Ricky Hatton makes his 2008 debut in late May.

Most, if not all, will be welcomed back with open arms, especially considering that none of their bouts in the next two months will cost a nickel beyond your regular monthly cable/satellite subscription.

But make no mistake; embracing their respective returns is in no way indicative that any of them were missed. Not with what we were given in the first three months of 2008, which was a quarter for the ages.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com