Boxing 2007: The Mid-Year Review

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Cliff Rold - Baseball has the all-star break. Boxing has July 1st. For each sport, it marks the same landmark: the passage of mid-season. There is no off-season because the boxing season never really ends, or begins for that matter. It’s one of the places boxing will always have America’s pastime beat. This dynamic doesn’t stop fans and pundits from marking the passing of time with the movement of the calendar.

At the end of each year, fighters and fights are anointed as the best of the last twelve months. Thus, it makes sense in the middle of each year to gauge where the sport is and where it’s headed.

To great excitement, both the ‘is’ and the ‘where’ of this ‘season’ are the best boxing has experienced in quite some time. 2007’s first six months, and the indications for the next six, mark a stark contrast with the shrill death watch boxing was under on May 4. There have been excellent fights, excellent fighters and an infusion of new blood. To all our benefit, the best may be yet to come.

So today, cheating by a just few days, my thoughts on the first half of the boxing year beginning with…

Fighter of the Half-Year: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

There may have been fighters with bigger personal moments, and certainly greater accomplishments, than World welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather (38-0, 24 KO) amassed in his single night of well-hyped, victorious combat against Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KO). In my estimation, all those arguments die with the words “over 2-million pay-per-view buys.’ [details]

[bigtexask9]

Jt

I love Jermaine's demeanor, I love his ferocious fighting attitude and of course his big heart. He will dominate this fight, especially if he can penetrate that quick jab of his. I am with the comment earlier, whenever he utilizes his jab, its a rap. He's gained more experience, he's beaten a legend with the jab, why not keep it going. JT if u read this, use your jab and lets head towards legendary land. Arkansas, its all about them Hogs........

[pbftxrs316]

floyd is the fighter of the year so far imo also because of how he sold the fight with oscar and played the villian role to perfection. on top of that, being apart of the highest grossing boxing match in ppv history.

[crold1]

Wow...now that's a post from a JT fan

[OptimusWolf]

I'm not against Mayweather being preliminary fighter of the year, but what has his PPV performance got to do with it? Surely it should be based on his performance in the DLH fight - otherwise Beckham would win the ballon d'or every year, when in reality he's top 50 at a push.

[JakeNDaBox]

I'm not against Mayweather being preliminary fighter of the year, but what has his PPV performance got to do with it? Surely it should be based on his performance in the DLH fight - otherwise Beckham would win the ballon d'or every year, when in reality he's top 50 at a push.

I agree with this post, the PPV sales have nothing to do with who wins a FOTY award (even 1/2 year). Lennox Lewis wasn't the 2002 Fighter of the Year, nor should he have even been considered.

I'd vote for either of the Marquez brothers over Floyd, personally.

One thing I took from the article, in regards to Cliff's Fight of the Year wrapup, is that while a lot of solid fights have happened this year (on paper and in the ring), so far nothing really stands out in regards to awards such as these. Marquez-Vazquez and Mormeck-Bell II were the closest I've seen to a solid Fight of the Year nominee, but it'd be a disappointing year if either fight wound up being the best when all was said and done by years end.

An even sadder sign of the times is that through six months, any decent nominee for Fighter of the Year has only fought once so far. To say that Cotto or even Hatton are nominees is a stretch, but they're the only two with two fights so far, and both will probably only fight once more (if even that) by the end of the year.

A lot of work needs to be done in both regards. In 2005 and 2006, we knew the Fight of the Year the moment we saw it (Corrales-Castillo I and Sithchatchawal-Monshipour). Hell in 2005, we almost already knew at this point that Hatton would most likely hold up as Fighter of the Year.

[snake]

That fight sold 2 million because of Oscar. Mayweather couldn't sell 3,000 seats on his own. Cotto and Hatton can clock 20K seats against past-their-prime fighters, something Mayweather can only dream of doing on his own.

Maybe PBF can sell that much now, but that is thanks to the popularity he got because of Oscar. DLH was that entire fight, he was the reason it sold so much. He is the only super bankable star left in boxing, and that is probably the last huge ppv buy fight that we will see in a long time.

[crold1]

Jake and others: The point I was trying to make, and I think I did, is that Floyd was so overwhelming a presence in the first half of the year that, in conjunction with winning (and Oscar is a damn good win no matter his place in the division) that Floyd easily is Fighter of the first half of the year; sort of like when Time picks ****ty people who had major impact as Man of the Year.

Snake: My point wasn't Floyd was the draw; it's that he sold extra audience and was the real star of the show. Oscar was still Oscar, but Floyd's villain role was what made that fight soooooooooooo much bigger than every other Oscar fight.

Just my take...

[TRUE WARRIOR]

how can mayweather be fighter of the year when he dont even fight?

[crold1]

LOL...of the Half year...and he's had no fewer fights than everyone else.