My thoughts on 2008 Part 1

This piece is like a leader of a country where it’s virtually impossible to please every single person, so I have no doubts this piece will bring a certain amount of praise but equally a certain amount of criticism.

2008 has been a good year for the sport of Boxing, although there has been concern that the likes of UFC, MMA etc will takeover, with respect to those fighters and their respective sport, they in my opinion, will never match the excitement, skill and other aspects that a Big Fight brings.

I particularly enjoyed Cotto Vs. Maragrito, from the moment the fight was announced I just couldn’t wait for the big night, I spread the word to my friends and some of my work colleagues and basically ‘promoted’ the fight to my friends and got them all excited.. I invited then over to my place and put some food on the table and we all contributed to the alcohol. There were about seven of us, most were casual Boxing fans and three of us were hardcore fans, actually I would consider myself to be the fanatic!

I call this my ‘I’m putting on a Boxing Night do you fancy coming over’ that I hold from time to time where I get the chance to kick back and socialise with friends. I started the night by putting on Cotto Vs. Judah, then Margarito Vs. Cintron 2 followed by the actual main event itself which everyone agreed was a good build up to the fight itself.

Anyway the fight did not disappoint, it was a tale of two fights and we all at the end of the night/morning made a toast to the sport of Boxing and the two tremendous fighters we had just watched put on a fantastic fight.

I hope Cotto did not leave to much in the ring that day because he is a fantastic talent and can still go on to achieve a lot in his beloved sport.

2008 also saw Joe Calzaghe fight in the US and beat Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. I find it ever increasingly difficult to rate Calzaghe’s achievements as high as some others do. I know there is the saying you can only beat the guys put in front of you and that Calzaghe is undefeated, I mean I have nothing against Calzaghe I think he is a Warrior, but a couple of things I definitely do not agree with, first off, in my opinion he is not 2008 Fighter of the Year, his victories against Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr were against ‘old men’ he barely beat Hopkins, yes it was an ugly fight mainly due to the way Hopkins decided to fight that night, the reason Calzaghe won was because he was the aggressor and I agree, I gave the decision to Calzaghe, but it was hardly a US debut one dreams of.

Then he decided to fight Roy Jones Jr, no point apart from money. Jones is way past it, way way past it and we saw this unfold in front of our very own eyes once he returned back down from the Heavyweight division. I really don’t think there is much more to say on this fight, he simply fought a way past his prime Roy Jones Jr and won that’s it, had they fought a few years earlier then I believe we would have had a true ‘pick em’ fight.

This leads me on to the second point; a few Boxing writers mainly in the UK were/are regarding Calzaghe as the #1 Pound for Pound fighter in the world, which I find absolutely ludicrous and utter nonsense. Calzaghe had a great year but let’s keep our feet firmly on the ground. I recall an interview after Calzaghe’s fight against Hopkins and before he fought Roy Jones Jr, (the Jones Jr fight had been announced at this time). I sensed a slight desperation in Calzaghe’s voice as he talked about his win against Hopkins and the level he would reach if he beats Jones Jr, the desperation I am referring to is Calzaghe convincing himself that he will go down as a legend and an all-time great. I wouldn’t go as far as saying he was trying to fool the public as I don’t believe he would do that. Beating the guys in America told me what I already knew that Calzaghe is a very good fighter and Champion but he should have pushed for these fights in the US much earlier in his career there is to much emphasis on not losing the ‘0’.

Whether this was down to politics, promoters and/or money I don’t know, what I do know is, there is that extra bit of shine missing from Calzaghe’s career and unfortunately as harsh as it sounds that’s the way it is. Further more I don’t think Calzaghe can change that now as there is no one out there for him to fight, In my opinion he would beat everyone out there apart from maybe a Hopkins rematch which I don’t think will happen, none the less well done to Calzaghe and I wish you a very happy retirement.

2008 also saw the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr, I have great respect for Floyd Mayweather but all I have to say on this subject is make the fights with Margarito, Cotto and Williams and let the wonderful sport of Boxing do the talking!

Vasquez Vs. Marquez 3 also took place this year and what a fight it was, in fact what a trilogy, both guys deserve the tag as Warriors!!! Although I personally would go for Cotto Vs. Maragrito as Fight of the Year as that’s the one I tend to watch more over the Vasquez Vs. Marquez fight, I suppose it was due to the actual event and how the fight unfolded, I guess most will think I am crazy but it’s just my personal choice.

2008 proved to be an exceptional year for Manny Pacquiao, he beat in a close fight JM Marquez in their second fight against each other, he stepped up to the Lightweight division and beat the very limited Diaz and then capped off the year with what many thought was not possible and delivered a one sided beating to De La Hoya.

Let’s put that into perspective, I know there are a fair few people who think JM Marquez won the rematch against Manny Pacquiao I thought it was a very close fight. Looking back a lot of the ‘oh’ factor came from what Manny was doing to Marquez, Marquez did of course hit Manny with some good power shots but I believe the highlight tape would feature more work from Manny and therefore did enough to win and the knockdown certainly helped. Both fighters showed improvements from their first contest, Pacquiao handled the counter punching better than before and Marquez was only floored once and not three times, all in all it was a very good fight.

Leading up to the Diaz fight there was considerable concern whether Manny would be able to handle the move up to Lightweight, I read a lot leading up to this fight and there was genuine concern that Pacquiao would not be able to stand up to a genuine Lightweight regardless of Diaz’s limited skills. What we saw unfold was a brutal one sided demolition put on by Pacquiao and knocking Diaz out.

The same thoughts and feelings surfaced when the Pacquiao Vs. De La Hoya fight was made but increase the concern level from 5 against Diaz to 9 against De La Hoya, and again what saw was the same result a one sided beating, I have no doubts that De La Hoya suffered a lot due to the weight loss but you still can’t take anything away from Pacquiao.

What impressed me the most was how we saw a one-dimensional fighter (right, right, straight left) develop into a formidable four dimensional fighter during 2008 and mark my words he will develop anther dimension, so he will get even better. There were resemblances made to the great Henry Armstrong and the great Roberto Duran when we talked about Manny Pacquiao, before you start spitting and swearing, I am not suggesting that Pacquiao is as good as those two, just that we were reminded of the two great masters when we saw Pacquiao in 2008, if you ask any fighter that they have been mentioned in the same sentence as Armstrong and Duran I am sure they will agree that is more than enough.

So without any doubts my 2008 Fighter of the Year is Manny Pacquiao!

Applause also to JM Marquez, first for being the other fantastic fighter in the rematch with Pacquiao and also for stepping up to Lightweight and not only beating Joel ‘El Cepillo’ Casamayor but stopping the modern day Cuban great.

If a third fight happens between Pacquiao and Marquez, it would probably be at Lightweight or even Jr Welterweight, and I see a decisive Pacquiao victory this time around, and just for the record both these guys in my opinion would be to much for Ricky Hatton.

Continued in My thoughts on 2008 Part 2................

It's great stuff... I suppose people will throw random comments out there regarding different parts..

With the Calzaghe thing, I know what you mean... He so desperately wanted to take all the glory from beating 2 of our era's greatest fighters in Jones and Hopkins, but when Jones couldn't even pull the trigger anymore, and Hopkins is not in his prime days (granted Hopkins then went onto destroy Pavlik to show he still has something left to be beaten), but i'll give him credit for the Hopkins one... You just can't take all the glory from those wins... When you look at Jones OR Hopkins highlight reels,,,, Calzaghe never faced that.... It's just a fact... And it's up to speculation now whether he could have beaten that. That's the whole problem..

Sometimes a boxers legacy when it's all said and done, can come down to what fighters were around at the time, what fights a fighter was prepared to take at certain times of their career etc.. Sometime it doesn't come down to ability or their potential, it usually always comes down to who they beat.... And critics who are actually really trying to give Calzaghe the credit he deserves, will point to his opponents..

Anyone who gets to that many wins with zero losses and does fight some quality is obviously a champion no doubt... But when people look back 10 years, 20 years from now, they want to point to the quality of opponents he knocked off.... And if people are still questioning whether he could have beat the top guys in their prime, then how will it be 20 years from now..

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Originally Posted by Dizaster

It's great stuff... I suppose people will throw random comments out there regarding different parts..

With the Calzaghe thing, I know what you mean... He so desperately wanted to take all the glory from beating 2 of our era's greatest fighters in Jones and Hopkins, but when Jones couldn't even pull the trigger anymore, and Hopkins is not in his prime days (granted Hopkins then went onto destroy Pavlik to show he still has something left to be beaten), but i'll give him credit for the Hopkins one... You just can't take all the glory from those wins... When you look at Jones OR Hopkins highlight reels,,,, Calzaghe never faced that.... It's just a fact... And it's up to speculation now whether he could have beaten that. That's the whole problem..

Sometimes a boxers legacy when it's all said and done, can come down to what fighters were around at the time, what fights a fighter was prepared to take at certain times of their career etc.. Sometime it doesn't come down to ability or their potential, it usually always comes down to who they beat.... And critics who are actually really trying to give Calzaghe the credit he deserves, will point to his opponents..

Anyone who gets to that many wins with zero losses and does fight some quality is obviously a champion no doubt... But when people look back 10 years, 20 years from now, they want to point to the quality of opponents he knocked off.... And if people are still questioning whether he could have beat the top guys in their prime, then how will it be 20 years from now..

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Thanks.

I agree with your comments, I believe there will be questions asked 20 years from now.