A Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. dream bout remains just that — imaginary — because their representatives twice failed to reach deals on a possible fight between boxing’s best two “pound-for-pound” fighters.
After negotiations failed for a first possible match with Mayweather in March, Pacquiao opted for Joshua Clottey and won a lopsided decision. Talks for another possible fight with Mayweather in November never materialized, and Pacquiao instead fought Antonio Margarito. Despite facing a 17-pound disadvantage the night of the fight, Pacquiao pummeled Margarito’s face throughout the 12-round match and won a convincing decision and his seventh world title in separate weight classes.
Both of Pacquiao’s fights in 2010 were at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Pacquiao attracted more than 40,000 fans in each bout, a welcome sight for a sport that usually holds its marquee fights in Las Vegas.
Mayweather’s one ring appearance of the year was against Shane Mosley in May. Mosley briefly stunned Mayweather with a powerful shot to the head in the second round before Mayweather recovered, played target practice with Mosley’s head the rest of the bout and won a convincing decision.
Mayweather made more news this year for his legal problems, however, including charges of domestic violence involving his former girlfriend and mother of three of his children. He also is facing separate charges for an alleged altercation with a Las Vegas security guard.
Mayweather has pending court dates for both cases next year, which means future fights — including the dream bout with Pacquiao — appear on hold.
BREAKOUT YEAR
The year’s breakout performer was Argentina’s Sergio Martinez. In April, Martinez manhandled Kelly Pavlik, winning a lopsided decision and the world middleweight title. Martinez made his first title defense Nov. 20 and knocked out Paul Williams in two rounds. The victory over Williams, who was considered among the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters, avenged a majority loss against Williams in 2009.
The heavyweight division continues to run through Europe. Wladimir Klitschko retained his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization belts with knockout victories over Eddie Chambers and Samuel Peter, and brother, Vitali, also won two defenses of his World Boxing Council title against Albert Sosnowski and Pembroke Pines resident Shannon Briggs.
All four bouts involving the Klitschko brothers were fought before capacity crowds in Germany. And with the division’s third world champion David Haye (World Boxing Association) making two successful defenses of his title in his native England, the United States was shut out of a world heavyweight championship bout in 2010.
Juan Manuel Marquez recovered from a loss to Mayweather in 2009 with two solid defenses of his lightweight title and remained in top 10 pound-for-pound consideration. Marquez overcame a third-round knockdown and scored a ninth-round knockout over Michael Katsidis in one of the year’s most exciting title fights on Nov. 27. In July, Marquez won a lopsided decision against Juan Diaz.
Other “fight-of-the-year” contenders include featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez’s eighth-round TKO over Rafael Marquez on Nov. 6 and super-lightweight titleholder Amir Khan’s unanimous decision over Marcos Maidana in a back-and-forth match on Dec. 11.
