THE Last Round?s Fighter of the Year is a no-brainer. After Welshman Joe Calzaghe defeated living legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, I was of the opinion that that feat would be hard to top.
I also thought Oscar de la Hoya would defeat the Pacman and so my feeling was that Joe had it pretty much locked in.
But Manny gave a very strong performance by stopping the ?Golden Boy,? and if you factor in the fact that he gobbled up both the WBC lightweight and super-featherweight belts with wins over David Diaz and arch-rival Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny definitely earns the nod.
Plus?and this is not to discredit what Calzaghe has accomplished?both Hopkins and Jones are admittedly past their primes. An underlying thread in the opinions of most writers was that any of these two could have beaten Calzaghe had they fought a few years ago.
Both of them dumped Joe?s butt on the canvas in the very first round. A younger Hopkins would have ended matters right then and there while a spirited Jones would have finished the show in style.
Still, Joe accomplished what no one else can brag about, hold wins over both Hopkins and Jones, and so he deserves the runner-up plum.
Also in close consideration would have been the mean Mexican machine Antonio Margarito who TKO?d both Kermit Cintron and the previously unassailable Miguel Cotto.
But Margarito inexplicably took the rest of the year off after his match with Joshua Clottey fell through and the ?Golden Boy? spurned his advances like a betrayed spouse.
However, the ?Tijuana Tornado? need not fret. His scintillating bout with Miguel Cotto merits ?Fight of the Year? honors. Although I predicted him to stop Cotto, seeing Margarito actually do it was quite surreal.
It was a great fight between two proud warriors who both gave it their all. Cotto alternately boxed and brawled and threw everything except the kitchen sink at Margarito.
But the latter just shrugged off the blows that felled the likes of Zab Judah and Carlos Quintana and went on dishing out punishment Margarito- style.
In the end, even though his hand was raised in victory you could see the purplish welts around his bruised and battered face indicating it had indeed been a hard-fought battle.
A close second would be the Israel Vasquez-Rafael Marquez scorcher. The battle for the WBC super bantamweight title was fought in spurts and tides, but in the end, Vasquez eked out a split decision win.
The next big superstar in boxing that had a breakthrough year would have to be none other than Juan Manuel Lopez.
If you have any problems with that go ask Daniel Ponce de Leon, Cesar Figueroa and Sergio Manuel Medina about it. None of them lasted a round with the phenomenal Puerto Rican.
HE SAID IT. ?Everybody right now look at your life, people always say you can?t do shit. I?m proof you can do things. I didn?t even think I could beat Nogueira? ?Newly-crowned UFC interim heavyweight champ Frank Mir after defeating the legendary Minotauro Noguiera.
AMAZING CAMPUS RACE. Amazing traffic at the Marcelo Fernan Mandaue-Mactan Bridge last Dec. 27 prevented me from watching the Sacred Heart School Amazing Campus, but from all accounts it was a very successful initial salvo.
Batch ?88 copped first place, while our very own Batch ?89 placed second. Kudos to my batch mates Carlo Camaya, Edward Yu and Stefan Reroma for proudly representing us. Cheers!
LAST ROUND. It?s on Last Rounders Andy and Abigail Sincero who recently celebrated their anniversary. Cheers!
