Boxing’s Best Fights of 2010: Khan-Maidana, Martinez-Williams, Marquez-Katsidis, More!

By Boxing News - 12/24/2010 - Comments

Image: Boxing's Best Fights of 2010: Khan-Maidana, Martinez-Williams, Marquez-Katsidis, More!By Francisco Hernandez: Top fight of the year 2010 is Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis. This fight was all action from start to finish, no lull in the action, every second of the fight packed with adrenalin, both fighters in top physical shape, both fighters with an equal chance of winning the fight, Katsidis with his strength and conditioning, Marquez with his technical skill.

A perfect match-up: a no nonsense super tough brawler versus a razor sharp counter puncher, a Spartan warrior versus an Aztec warrior. Both of these men are honest fighters who gave their best for the fans, and needed no excuses. Fight fans should honor them. This fight was boxing at its best.

Second fight of the year 2010 is Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Rafael Marquez. Rafael is no stranger to legendary fights; he fought three of them against Israel Vasquez. Although this fight didn’t go the distance because Rafael hurt his shoulder, the rounds that the fight lasted had more boxing gold quality than a dozen other fights that have gone the whole 12 rounds. I would rather watch one round of Lopez vs. Marquez than a dozen fights shown on HBO and Showtime. Boricua Lopez is known as a brutal brawler but he has boxing skills and he showed them against Rafael, counter-punching effectively with Rafael. This was not just two brawlers going at it, but rather two highly skilled fighters who love to brawl. The fight was well matched; each fighter with a good chance of winning. Every second of this fight packed with gold, high quality boxing. If the fight hadn’t ended with Rafael hurting his shoulder, I would’ve picked this fight as the best of 2010.

Third fight of the year 2010 is Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams. These two men are honest fighters who always try to give their best. With these two men there is no nonsense of fighting stacked fights or draining opponents. They just want to fight and give fans what they spend their money for, an honest boxing fight. Paul Williams came to destroy Sergio Martinez; the Argentinean held his ground and knocked out Paul. Sergio used what some trainers call a lag punch; a punch that trails behind the body and has a whip like-effect, this punch produced one of the most dramatic knockouts of the year 2010, something hardly seen since Pipino Cuevas’s heyday.

Fourth fight of the year 2010 is Marcos Maidana vs. Amir Khan. Although this fight is the most dramatic of the year 2010, it doesn’t have the same boxing quality as the other three fights. This is boxing not Hollywood. Fights should be judged on boxing quality not dramatics. This fight came short because it had too many lulls in the action. Much of the fight was Maidana chasing Khan with nothing happening. The fight was controversial because referee Joe Cortez stopped most of the inside action. Some casual fans are confused and believe that running is boxing, that is a falsehood. There is a big difference between foot movement and running in boxing. Foot movement takes skill; anyone can run. That’s why many Olympic fights are so boring because some fighters score a few points and then run the rest of the rounds and win the fight. Khan fought an Olympic style fight of pitti patty punching to score points and then taking off running. Khan’s decision to run instead of really boxing Maidana ruined what could have been a better fight. In dramatics this fight scored first, but in boxing quality it came up short. Marcos Maidana has to be commended because he came to give fans an honest fight, Khan and his teams were exposed for what they are. This fight unlike the other top fights of 2010 was not an honest fight, it was riddled with controversy since the cards were all stacked in favor of one fighter, yet the will of Marcos Maidana upstaged the odds and made it an exciting fight.

Fifth place for 2010 is Humberto Soto vs. Urbano Antillon. This fight is a slugfest and the reason that I don’t place it any higher than fifth is that it didn’t have the technical quality of the other fights. I see tough kids in the gym who slug it out all the time in gym wars, but that doesn’t mean they have any boxing skill. Soto and Antillon had a primitive war with little regard to Boxing skills, yet this fight made fifth place because contrary to what we generally see in boxing fights today, these two fighters came to give fans their best, a brutal violent alley fight.



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