By Timothy Medina: For a few years many people have been saying boxing is not exciting like it used to be in the early 2000s. Many people have even considered boxing as a dying sport. As a boxing fan, last year I even agreed that the sport was not exciting as it was in the previous decade. The one thing I could not agree with was that boxing is dying. This sport is what I love dearly and so many fans of it can say the same thing. It is impossible to lose hope for boxing or any sport when you have so much passion towards it.
In 2013, boxing made its way back to the top as the elite combat sport, Boxing was back in the spotlight that UFC had been in for years. 2013 has been the most exciting year for boxing in recent years. It is difficult to say who was boxing’s fighter of 2013 or what the fight of 2013 was because there are many strong candidates for both categories. So many great things happened in the sport in just one year and at the perfect time too.
One of the most exciting things about boxing is when you get to witness a young fighter come up in the rankings over the years, become a world champion and become one of the greatest in their weight class. It makes fans feel like they’re witnessing something special and gives them hope that only greater things will come. I feel like I am witnessing something special when I watch guys fight such as Danny Garcia (27-0, 16 KO’s), Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s), Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s), Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KO’s) and Léo Santa Cruz (26-0-1, 15 KO’s). These young world champions impressed me this year with what they accomplished. They are exciting to watch and I hope they continue to succeed. It is unknown how long they will remain undefeated especially Garcia, Bradley and Porter since they are in weight classes filled with elite competition. They are very skilled and it would be no surprise if 2014 ended with them all still as world champions.
Last year, two future Boxing Hall of Famers received two consecutive losses. Those two men are Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s). It was unknown coming into 2013 if they would compete in the sport of boxing again and if they did, it was unknown if they were the same fighters mentally.
When I heard Cotto reached out to Freddie Roach to train him, I was excited because I knew that meant Cotto would be returning to the ring. Cotto was scheduled to fight Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3, 16 KO’s) on October 5th and even though Rodriguez is not an elite fighter, nobody knew what Cotto was going to bring to the table once it was fight night for them. There were actually a lot of people predicting Rodriguez would go the distance with Cotto and that did not happen. They did not even get past a third of the fight. Cotto was stalking Rodriguez and making him feel uncomfortable from the first round and in the third round, Cotto sent Rodriguez to the canvas and the referee decided to stop the punishment. Cotto looked excellent against Rodriguez and it was great to see the Pride of Puerto Rico come back to a ring and dominate.
Pacquiao was scheduled to meet Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) in the ring on November 23rd. I thought it sounded terrific and I was curious to see if it would be a brawl like Pacquiao’s last fight against Juan Manuel Márquez (55-7, 40 KO’s). Rios is known for taking punches and fighting back without fear. However, he only did half of what he is known for against Pacquiao and that is get hit. Pacquiao actually turned him into a punching bag and out-boxed him in every round. I will say Rios has a great chin because he did not go down despite receiving punishment from Pacquiao but, he looked terrible that night. Rios is not a terrible fighter, in fact I think he is a good fighter with a tremendous amount of heart but, he is not in the same league as Pacquiao. The Pac-Man will land a mega-fight in 2014 for sure, although I do not see him fighting Marquez for a fifth time or the P4P King.
The P4P King created the most hype this year and his “little brother” created a lot of hype as well. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) remained undefeated after fighting Robert Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KO’s) and Saul Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s). This came to no surprise. People hoped that someone would dethrone Mayweather Jr. However, I did not see Guerrero or Alvarez as the answer to solving Mayweather Jr. While Guerrero looked good at the beginning of his fight with Mayweather Jr., that changed very quickly. Mayweather Jr. solved Guerrero and was outboxing him for the rest of the fight after the second round. Mayweather Jr. would defeat Guerrero by unanimous decision.
The fight with Alvarez was different though. This fight was labeled as “The One”. “Money” Mayweather and “Canelo” Alvarez were being looked at as the greatest in the sport of boxing. If it was not for Danny Garcia facing Lucas Matthysse (34-3, 32 KO’s) that same night, “The One” would have been the one fight I regretted paying $60 for. I expected Alvarez to jump on Mayweather Jr. and show him his power. I did not expect Alvarez to outbox Mayweather Jr. However, I did expect Alvarez to hurt him at some point in the fight and give Mayweather Jr. little comfort. Instead, he was fighting Floyd’s fight. I could not believe what I was seeing. The fight was slow placed and Mayweather Jr. was just making Alvarez look like he had no business being in the same ring as him. Alvarez did not know what to do with Mayweather Jr. At one point I honestly wanted to shut my television off. I did not want to watch anymore. After twelve rounds, the P4P King still reigned supreme my majority decision which came as a shock because I only had Alvarez winning two rounds. I am not sure what fight C.J. Ross was watching. It did not matter thought because Mayweather Jr. was not dethroned and honestly, I do not believe anyone will dethrone him.
Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) became the most hated fighter in 2013. I would not have minded his loud mouth so much if he could have backed it up and although he was the former WBA Welterweight champion, he should have never had that title. I never thought Broner was that impressive. Many people would agree with me when I say he lost both of his fights in 2013. Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KO’s) should have won the fight against Broner even though it was a close fight. Since Broner got the win over Malignaggi, that only hyped him up even more and he felt like he was untouchable. Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) knocked Broner off his high horse on December 14th which came as no surprise to me. That was the perfect ending to boxing in 2013.
I enjoyed it because some young fighters in boxing are being made out to be like they’re boxing’s finest when their body of work isn’t all that impressive. Broner is not the only one. Saul Alvarez is another fighter who was given too much credit. If he had a poor performance against Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KO’s), how was I supposed to be convinced he would defeat the best fighter in boxing? Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1. 32 KO’s) takes the cake though. The only reason he is so big in boxing is because he is the son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez. I will not say he is a disgrace to his father and his legacy, yet, he does not have the skills his father had. Chavez Jr. is not impressive at all and if you saw his last fight you would agree.
This does not cover all of boxing in 2013, although it covers what made boxing this year so memorable. I can see 2014 being an even better year for boxing. Boxing is not a dying sport. It will live on forever and I can see it getting better. We just have to wait and see. It has been a pleasure writing for the website since October 5th. I enjoyed writing for all the boxing fans on here and seeing what they felt about my articles and their opinions on fighters or fights I wrote about. I will continue to write throughout 2014 and I guarantee there will be much more activity from me. Have a happy new year boxing fans!
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