BoxingScene Picks The Best of 2005

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Another year of boxing is in the books, and for the first time in a long time, the good outweighed the bad. We saw fighters like Floyd Mayweather, Jermain Taylor, Miguel Cotto and Jeff Lacy elevate themselves into superstars. We saw comeback attempts by veterans like Felix Trinidad and Roy Jones shot down with one-sided defeats. We saw Bernard Hopkins, a fighter that went undefeated for 12 years, lose twice before the year was over. We saw Vitali Klitschko suffer multiple injuries that led to his unexpected retirement from the sport. We also saw our share of tragedies, with fighters like Leavander Johnson suffering ring injuries that untimely ended his life.

BoxingScene.com takes a look at the winners of 2005, and reflects on what made them the best that boxing had to offer in what many called a good year for the sport.

Fighter of The Year - Ricky Hatton

After years of facing no-hopers and over-the-hill fighters, Hatton stepped up his level of competition by several miles. In June, Hatton risked his undefeated record against one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world, Kostya Tszyu.

After ten years of ruling a division, Hatton was determined to take Tszyu's throne by force. Thousands of screaming Hatton fans packed the M.E.N arena in Manchester to cheer on their countryman. Atomically billed as the underdog by the experts, Hatton rose to the occasion by fighting like the favorite.

Obviously reviewing countless hours of tape on Tszyu, Hatton executed a picture perfect strategy to smother the power and boxing skills of the champion by staying on top of him at all times with swarming attacks. After eleven grueling rounds, the unthinkable happened as Kostya Tszyu was unable to come out for the final round and retired on his stool. Hatton rocked the boxing world with the victory and picked the IBF junior lightweight title in the process.

In the final quarter of the year, Hatton set his sights on unifying the division. Unable to secure bouts with Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, Hatton challenged WBA junior lightweight champion Carlos Maussa for a November battle in Manchester. Hatton, bloodied from badly cut eyes and facially bruised, came back to stop his unorthodox opponent with a single crushing power shot in the ninth round.

Hatton, now the proud owner of two-thirds of the unified junior welterweight crown, is looking to continue his successful career on American soil in 2006. [details]

[Darkstar]

I agree with Fighter of The Year - Ricky Hatton

[restless_438]

for boxing fans, it wasn't very tough to make picks for 2005. most everyone is in agreement over all the picks that sites/fans are making.

[Slipx]

fighter of the year= jose luis castillo, the man waged war of the truest sense in the square circle, he didnt constantly grab and punch behind the head, then claim a legendary victory over an old kostya tszyu that got in a lucky shot against a judah that was landing good (well, brutal, not good) shots on tszyu..

fight of the year= cotto vs torres. Many of you will say OMGZ WHY NO CASTILLO CORRALES OMGAZ. lemme explain something, I value risk more than showmanship, and castillo/corrales, except for round 10, was a big show. neither guy was really throwing with conviction or there would have been an earlier KD.. In my opinion castillo wanted the first fight to go as far as it did, so he could get another chance in the spotlight fighting a 'top fighter recognized by the public' in diego corrales. I think it was a classic case of, pouring into a beer into the glass slowly but continuing to pour, then it overflows while u change the channel(he waited to long to put diego down)

now, let me explain why cotto vs torres was a great fight. first of all the fight wasn't even really highly recognized at all, although it was loaded with un-publicized drama. mainly because Torres is an unknown. However, Torres packs more punching power in that frame of his than Corrales or Castillo, I can promise you that. the man's hands are not only quicker but he has more power and is lighter, it's a fact. the one punch castillo may have on torres is a better lead left hook. getting back to the point, the public was begging for a real test for Cotto, and when his scheduled opponent backed out, Torres was phoned and appeared within 48 hours. Something like this just deserves respect. He realizes cotto was undefeated, he realizes he's risking his undefeated record in a foreign country, BUT THE GUY SAID **** IT, FLEW OVER AND CAME IN LOOKIN TO PUT COTTO DOWN FROM THE START AND WRITE HIS OWN PAGE OF GREATNESS, SOMETHING MOSTLY ONLY TOUGH GUYS OF YESTERYEAR ARE KNOWN FOR. you just have to respect the ferocity torres brought to cotto in this fight, and this fight really showed me the survival skills cotto brought to the ring. After I saw this fight, I said to myself, Cotto must be sparring with some killers to get away like he did. reminded me of litzau when he was dazed beyond belief and pulled out the win anyway, I know litzau must have been dazed many times while sparring to perform that way, same with cotto. great fight, great punching from torres, great attempt at finishing cotto by torres, great technical skills utilized by cotto to survive make this a fight that'll never collect dust in my collection.

honorable mention for fighter of the year: Sam Solimon, nobody else gives this poor ****er any respect for what he did, which was the unthinkable! He absolutely confused Winky wright to no ends for the duration of the bout, and not only that got in some good shots to boot on a guy that NEVER takes shots. he reminds me of david estrada, always coming forward, unstoppable will, can take a shot, unpredictable. he definately deserves props for what he did to the master, considering he was facing an unbeatable opponent in wright.

[jack_the_rippuh]

I still am yet to see Solimon vs. Wright, but I heard Solimon was just throwing out of a control shots not worth anything..

[restless_438]

I still am yet to see Solimon vs. Wright, but I heard Solimon was just throwing out of a control shots not worth anything..

yeah, Slipx, i was looking for a way to respond to your picks, cause you have good justification for them i think, it's just as much of an effort that Solimon put out, he still didn't really come close to winning the fight and IMO you can't really give a guy 'fighter of the year' credentials without being able to win along with your style.

[Slipx]

I heard Solimon was just throwing out of a control shots

that's his style. solimon swings in case he hits something most of the time, he comes to fights in excellent shape in an attempt to 'overwrite' his lack of precision punching skill. he was getting in some decent shots on wright though, although not exactly punishing blows. wright was on point with his jab as usual. youll respect solimon after watching it.

even near the end of the fight, it was apparent wright couldn't figure out the solimon rhythm..

[Slipx]

wlad k. also deserves honorable mention for what he did vs sam peter. completely restructured his style to beat him due to good ol' Manny steward. gotta love the guy,(steward) he knows how to beat a small heavyweight. Most people didn't give Wlad a prayer, including Merchant, who said when Peter entered the ring, "Sam Peter, regarded as maybe one of history's hardest punchers, and wlad, one of the weakest chins, in the hw div. do we even need to have this fight?" Made me chuckle the second time I watched this bout. the look on wlad's face when he entered teh arena that night was a bit different from how he normally looks, or how any normal fighter looks for that matter. you could tell he was hungry, trained, and comin to get it. he had the 'eye of the tiger' that night