Best Year of Boxing (from 2000 to 2007)

[DiegoFuego]

I can certainly try. The big fights in 2000 to me were:

2000

Morales-Barrera I - not hyped outside of experts, but turned out to be one of the best fights ever and the best of their trilogy (also fight of the year)

De La Hoya-Mosley I - very hyped fight, got all sorts of non-boxing fans interested in the sport for a night, fight lived up to the hype and made Mosley a star

Trinidad-Vargas - runner up to fight of the year, very hyped fight that surpassed expectations, solidifed Trinidad as a superstar, but Vargas gave a great account of himself, a great way to close out the year

Other notable gems from this year that aren't as talked about:

Mayweather-Burton - probably Mayweather's most exciting fight, but it wasn't hyped at all, Mayweather was at war with HBO and fought on that ****** hip hop boxing show, I don't even remember what it was called. KO something, but a great fight to watch

Rahman-Sanders - one of the most exciting heavyweight fights in a long time following the hyped Holyfield-Lewis fights that failed big time in 1999, both guys got rocked bad, Rahman eventually knocked Sanders out to earn a shot at Lewis

Hopkins-Echols II - this fight had more fouls than you or I could count and turned out to be a great performance by Hopkins as he chose to continue fighting after a shoulder injury and annihilated Echols, even knocking him out of the ring once, I loved this fight

The rest of the year included Lewis knocking out Grant in a very hyped fight, destroying Botha in a not-so-hyped fight, and easily beating Tua in a hyped fight. At least we had a dominant champion easily destroying his opponents.

Roy Jones was doing his normal bull**** but still looking great doing it even though his fights weren't getting a whole lot of attention. I really liked his performance against Richard Hall though. He kept a lot of the hip hop community involved. Listen to any good rap CD from 98-2000 and you'll be sure to hear mention of RJJ's handspeed and KO power. He was great for bringing interest in the sport, you gotta admit.

[DiegoFuego]

Feel free to add anything I forgot while I think about what I remember from 2001. I forgot to mention Trinidad-Reid was a pretty hyped fight and turned out to be very entertaining before Tito overwhelmed him.

[DiegoFuego]

2001 as I remember it:

Lewis-Rahman I and II - well, the first one got so little attention that even Lewis wasn't interested, but I sure was paying attention as Rock was my boy. I'll never forget when Rahman stopped Lewis in April and the boxing world went bonkers. Lewis' emphatic revenge in November was just SICK and considered by many experts to be the hardest punch ever landed. Rock can probably verify that. The second one had people paying attention and reestablished Lewis as a mean son of a *****. Been a looooong time since anybody feared or looked up to or could even name the heavyweight champ, but everybody knew Lennox Lewis after that ****.

Mayweather-Corrales - fight that had been building a long while, but obviously it wasn't PPV worthy so few outside of boxing knew to appreciate this. It was really Mayweather's coming out party as he destroyed Corrales and went on to do similar numbers over top jr lightweights like Hernandez and Chavez. Terrific year for the Pretty Boy.

Hamed-Barrera - very hyped fight after Barrera's performance against Hamed, but it was a total shock as Barrera beat him from pillar to post easily. If it wasn't for Hamed flying around the ring like he took a bullet everytime he got hit, this would have been lame as hell. Thanks to Hamed looking silly, it was fun.

De La Hoya came back and made mincemeat of Gatti I'm pretty sure on regular HBO for a change and had a pretty meaningless fight against Castillejo to say he won 5 titles in 5 weight classes. That's nice, but it was all meant to set up negotiations to fight Vargas in the fight the whole boxing world was dying to see.

I'm pretty sure the Klitschkos were fighting, and I'm pretty sure no one gave a ****. Tyson was on the comeback so that's where the attention was.

Ward-Burton - everybody knew this one was going to be a war, and it was on for free on ESPN!!!! turned out to be a great, great fight that set up the bigger fight with Gatti next year for Ward. you know the one.

Trinidad-Hopkins - for as much hype as this fight was getting thanks to Hopkins' shenanigans with the PR flag, people were dissappointed and surprised by how easily Hopkins took him apart. This was Hopkins' year as he won the middleweight tournament (after Tito put on a terrific show in destroying Joppy) and ascended the pound for pound rankings behind rival Roy Jones...who was doing his normal bull****.

Tszyu-Judah - this was the big one everybody was looking forward to at the end of the year, and it really dissappointed due to an early stoppage even though Tszyu was going to win anyway by all appearances. Judah's flip out after the fight probably brought it more attention than it deserved and put boxing back in the ugly spotlight for a little while.

This year had a lot of surprises but no really terrific fights outside of the gem that was Burton vs. Ward. It was a coming out party for guys like Mayweather, Barrera, Tszyu and Hopkins and a sad end for flashier guys like Naz, Judah and Tito.

[iron mike tyson]

keep the year reviews coming diego great read good k

[DiegoFuego]

I'm having fun recalling this stuff so I'll do just one more before I get back to work for good here

2002 was a year of big, big fights, most of which had dissapointing outcomes, but the lesser known fights delivered in style

Lewis-Tyson - gotta start with the biggest. the highest grossing fight in boxing history until this year. the hype was unbelievable as media sources were doing everything in their power to make Tyson appear to be a monster and Lewis the complete good guy. I remember all sorts of non-boxing news doing special video packages on this fight because everybody wanted to get it on the action. when I got together with people to order this, there were probably 60-70 people in the house trying to see it. that's a big fight, folks. turned out to suck as Lewis dominated everything after round 1, which wasn't too good for boxing, but started the "downfall of Tyson" articles we've seen two times a month every year since.

Morales-Barrera II - this one got the deserved hypejob treatment as well, but it was a terrible fight compared to their first. Barrera tried to box with Morales like an idiot and should have lost this one clearly but got the screwjob decision just to make a third fight happen. I always thought that was criminal what they did to Morales that night. the first fight could have gone either way (without that bs knockdown), but this one was clear as day. another big miss for boxing.

De La Hoya-Vargas - finally a fight called "BAD BLOOD" that meant it. this was one of the more entertaining fights I've ever seen. classic good guy vs. bad guy, both guys bled, both guys had great moments, DLH rallied from a first round whooping and KO'd Vargas to get his sweetest win ever. great, great night for boxing.

Ward-Gatti I & II - up until Corrales-Castillo in 2005, it was the best fight of all time. unreal to watch is the only way you can put it. because a lot of people felt the verdict went the wrong way (and because it was do damn good), they did it again and Gatti controlled the 2nd fight, even though it had some terrific moments of trading like round 3 and 10. fights like this really helped put boxing back on the map and went they agreed to do it again in 2003, EVERYBODY tuned in, including tons of my non-boxing friends, and I mean tons. nobody outside of boxing had ever heard of either of these guys despite Gatti doing this type of **** all the time, but now plenty of non-boxing fans know who Gatti is.

Forrest-Mosley I & II - Forrest's upset of Mosley hurt the sport a little as Mosley really was a big name to the sport. Neither fight was particularly good either, but if Forrest had maintained his momentum for years after this, it would have been fine.

Wladimir Klitschko was starting to catch people's attention with KO wins over Mercer and McCline, and Mayweather was heavily criticized for his first fight with Castillo before easily dominating the rematch, both of which hurt his chances of being a big star at that point. A couple years later and Wlad and Floyd's star power were completely reversed.

I'd rank this ahead of 2001 and behind 2000 thus far because there were a couple big slipups/mismatches that turned people off to boxing but at the same time got great exposure, and DLH and Vargas really saved the day. Ward-Gatti did as much as they could with their names and really helped out for 2003.

[dino]

This has been one of the best years for boxing imo...From 2000 to 2007, which has been the best year for boxing in your opinion...

this is ******...who thell can remember all the fights from thru all those years? your akashic records deletes that stuff

[DiegoFuego]

this is ******...who thell can remember all the fights from thru all those years? your akashic records deletes that stuff

I'll do it later, no prob. I have a very detail-oriented memory about stuff I like, but I can't remember ****** **** like the eye color of people I talk to every day. It's a gift and a curse.

[+= El Jefe=+]

2005

EM Vs Manny P I
Arce Vs Hussein I
LArios Vs McCullough I
Hop Vs Taylor
Castillo Vs Corrales


come on exept for the Hop Vs Taylor the rest keept everyone in the edge of their seat

[iron mike tyson]

cheers diego enjoyed reading them all

[Winkyftw!]

2003:

Toney vs Jirov, probably the the best cruiserweight bout of all time. It was a better version of Chavez vs Mayweather, with Jirov throwing a billion punches, and outworking Toney, and Toney, throwing the brilliant counterpunches with his back against his ropes. Round 12 clinched the fight for Toney, in the ROTY, Toney hurt Jirov terribly, but jirov refused to go down for like a minute, and throw some big punches himself. Great fight, Great fighters...


Lewis vs Vitali: An extremly hyped heavyweight war between two huge, great jabbing heavyweights. In the end it had to be stopped because of cuts on Vitali's face. Great great fight...

Ward Gatti 3: Foty, everyone knows what happens when these guys get in ring.

Mayorga Forrest, Huge upset, Mayorga took advantage of Forrests shoulder problems, fought like a drunken sailor, and knocked Forrest out in the 3rd...

Pacman vs Barrera: Another huge upset, with Pac blasting barrera out, in a highly anticpated, highly enjoyable bout. Good fight, birth of a new P4P star.

Burton vs Manfreddy, this was a great fight, which had Burton losing most of te fight, but then scoring a stunning knockout in the 8th...

Sanders KO Wlad Klit: HUGE HUGE HUGE upset, the Wlad train was derailed, his chin has ever since been questioned.

If I missed any let me know...[/SIZE][/B]