By Michael Taylor: This year has been an up and down year, with plenty of complications and drama, it has also had tragedy and the making of many new champions, spectacular knockouts and terrible decisions, justice has been served but some not. After a hectic year I am going to review the year month my month on the big events that took place. There have been plenty of bad times this year, we have lost some great young fighters, but it will be balanced out with the good of this year, the emerging of future greats and the retirements of some legends of the ring. This is my first full year of being a boxing fan and now I have the chance to review it.
January: In early January a great bout for May 2nd was arranged between pound-for-pound best boxer Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. The bout was in talks from December 2008 and was then officially arranged in January. Later that month on 17th January Andre Berto defended his WBC Welterweight title for the second time. He won a close and slightly disputed decision over Luis Collazo. Collazo hurt Berto on occasions and was the one who made a fight of it, but Berto got the decision 116-111 and 114-113 twice. Many people disputed the decision but Berto got the nod. The next weekend Shane Mosley came back from a disappointing last second knockout of Ricardo Mayorga to shock the world and take out WBA Welterweight king Antonio Margarito. But Mosley’s 9th round stoppage wasn’t the biggest talking point, but Margarito using illegal substance in his wraps. It was a bad story for boxing, and Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo were banned from boxing in America for 12 months. Maybe Margarito’s bad display was because he was caught and that was on his mind, or he was just outclassed by a better fighter.
February: In February we start off with the retirement of unbeaten Welshman Joe Calzaghe. Joe was unbeaten in 45 fights and retired following his November points victory over Roy Jones Jr. It wasn’t much of a surprise that Calzaghe retired although he still had options, such as a rematch with Bernard Hopkins or a fight with unbeaten Chad Dawson. Then on the 7th February, Vic Darchinyan retired Jorge Arce in a grudge match at Super Flyweight, it was a total dominant performance by Darchinyan and the fight was stopped by the doctor on a cut over Arce’s right eye, which was caused by the ropes. Then on the 14th Ali Funeka was defeated by majority decision to Nate Campbell at Lightweight. The fight was to be for Nate’s IBF,WBO and WBA Lightweight titles, but failed to make the weight by 3lbs. Although he wasn’t able to get down to 135lbs the fight still went ahead, but if Campbell won he couldn’t keep his titles. Campbell floored Funeka twice but looked outclassed for most of the fight, but unfortunately for Ali the knockdowns cost him the fight. Then the next weekend we saw the return of Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik both on separate cards. Kelly defended his WBC and WBO Middleweight titles against mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio. Pavlik dominated all but the 6th round where Rubio came to life before he retired on his stool after 9 rounds. Then Miguel Cotto won a quick a decisive 5th round stoppage over British Michael Jennings for the vacant WBO Welterweight title. Jennings was way out of his league and was floored twice, the second time the referee had seen enough. February didn’t end just there with my favourite fight of the year between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. The fight was for the vacant WBA and WBO and Diaz’s IBO and Marquez’s ring lightweight titles. Diaz started brilliantly before Marquez suddenly came on cutting Diaz and flooring him in the 8th with a beautiful uppercut. Then Marquez finished the job in the 9th stopping Diaz on his back. On the undercard Chris John and Rocky Juarez fought to a draw in another great fight.
March: On the 13th March Amir Khan stopped Mexican warrior Marco Antonio Barrera on cuts, in a career turning fight, which saw Barrera suffer a very nasty cut on his forehead. A week later Vitali Klitschko defended his WBC Heavyweight title for the first time since retaining it last October against Juan Carlos Gomez. On the same night Irishman Bernard Dunne dethroned Ricardo Cordoba in a classic battle which saw 5 knockdowns in 11 rounds.
April: On the 4th April Timothy Bradley defended his WBC Light Welterweight title and gained the WBO belt by coming back from two knockdowns in the first and last rounds against Kendall Holt. Bradley took the fight by split decision despite Bradley dominating most of the fight. Then on 14th April Oscar De La Hoya announced his retirement from boxing in Los Angeles, after being defeated in December to pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao. It was a wave goodbye to a great career, but his Golden Boy Promotions he would still be a big face in the sport of boxing. Then the week after Carl Froch retained his WBC Super Middleweight title with a knockout over Jermain Taylor with just 16 seconds to spare before Taylor was to be crowned champion. Carl went down in the 3rd but came back to floor and stop Taylor on his feet in the final round.
May: On the 2nd of May the hugely anticipated bout between Hatton and Pacquiao was ended in just two rounds with 3 knockdowns, the final being a nasty uppercut which knocked Hatton out cold. Pacquiao was at his destructive best, and Hatton was lain down in a hospital bed to have brain scans, which thank god, came back negative. The week after Chad Dawson beat Tarver for a second time on points.
June: Early in the month David Haye called off his WBO/IBF Heavyweight shot at Wladimir Klitschko due to a shoulder injury. On 13th June Miguel Cotto came back against tough Ghanaian Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden. Cotto fought a tough and hard fight flooring Clottey for the first time in his career in the first round with a strong jab. Cotto was cut badly once again but fought on to win a sloppy Split Decision. The week after Wladimir Klitschko retained his titles against late replacement Ruslan Chagaev.
July: July started with very sad news of the news that Alexus Arguello had took his own life at his home. Alexus was a three weight champion and was in politics and the news was just the start of a nasty cycle of deaths. On 11th July Vic Darchinyan was schooled by Bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko and was sent back to where he belonged. Then Miguel Cotto vs Manny Pacquiao was confirmed for November 14th while Amir Khan beat WBA Light Welterweight champion Andreas Kotelnik at the MEN arena in Manchester. Just at the end of July David Haye signed a deal to fight 7ft 2in WBA Heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev while Light Middleweight contender Vernon Forrest was shot dead after he had his wallet stolen. Vernon will always be remembered for his victories over Shane Mosley in the ring, and out he will be remembered as a charitable man, who is dearly missed.
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