My thoughts on 2008 Part 2

Ricky Hatton also fought twice in 2008 although this was a relatively quite year in comparison to 2007 the Hitman showed no real signs of decline, the Lazcano fight was a bit ‘iffy’ but his performance against Paul Malignaggi was good, the appointment of Mayweather Sr in his corner is also a very good move, but let’s not get carried away and jump on the bandwagon. Hatton has a few fights left in him but I feel beating Malignaggi was good but that’s it, no more, it’s easier to go with the plan when you have a guy with only 5 KO’s in 25 fights facing you. In 2009, some, if not all the questions will be answered about Hatton and his boxing future!

Need to mention the ‘wily old fox’ that is Bernard Hopkins, I was quite disappointed in the way he fought Calzaghe but his performance against Pavlik was brilliant, he showed power, movement, speed and accuracy. There was some question marks about Pavlik going up in weight and some training injuries which may or may not have been a factor, but all I saw was Bernard putting on a clinic and Pavlik had no answers at all and he looked very one dimensional. I would like to add the concerns about Pavlik were mentioned during and after the fight, in the lead up Pavlik was a sure bet winner.

I appreciate Pavlik has genuine natural KO power, but I never have rated Pavlik has a Top Ten P4P fighter, maybe in the top 15 but not the Top Ten at the current time as I don’t believe he has achieved enough yet and the Hopkins loss was certainly a set back. It will be interesting to see how Pavlik gets on in 2009 because he was to a certain degree exposed in that fight against Hopkins.

I wish both Hopkins and Pavlik the best for 2009 as they both bring to the table but in different ways.

A bit of a low point this year was Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy promotions. I have tremendous respect for De La Hoya the Fighter, the Businessman, and the Family Man (from what I can see from the outside) but I felt a bad taste in my mouth with how he has the control and is misusing that responsibility.

Please allow me to explain, some of the comments made by Richard Schaefer who knows very little about actual boxing make me feel sdft. The sport of Boxing has given so much to De La Hoya and he as a promoter has the opportunity to ‘clean up’ certain areas of the sport and ensure the right fights are made, the fights that fans want to see and ensure the fighters who are putting their lives at risk are rewarded very well, but I get the impression he is using his position to make even more money for Oscar De La Hoya.

Have one more farewell fight put on your Promoters hat and be a business man and a boxing fan and make the real fights happen, you have that power and responsibility and that’s all I will say on this matter!

Apart from the usual potential and actual match up’s that have been spoken about for 2009, I am quite intrigued with the Jr Featherweight division at the moment, Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez currently head the division but we as fight fans could be in for a real treat with some very interesting match up’s all I will say is the following: Juan Manuel Lopez, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Bernabe Concepcion, Ricardo Cordobaand Celestino Caballero.

I would also like to see in the Jr Lightweight division Edwin Valero Vs. Jorge Linares, I think that could be a very interesting match up!

All in all 2008 has been a good year for Boxing, and I think 2009 will be just as good if not better.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year from The Wind