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TOP 5 FIGHTS OF THE PAST DECADE By Jason Aniel PhilBoxing.com Thu, 31 Dec 2009  It’s that time of the year where the awards are dished out and everyone reflects on the past 12 months of boxing. But this year is special because not only do we look back on a great year of boxing but we look back even further to the past decade in boxing. If you can put the past 10 years into a one sentence or headline it would be “the rise of the featherweights and the death of the heavyweights”. The past 10 years has proven that bigger isn’t always better. In terms of PPVs, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. generated the highest PPV buys ever. Currently, the two best fighters in boxing today, Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, fought at 130lbs and below for the majority of their career. And the follow five fights, which stood out the most memorable and thrilling fights of the past decade, prove just that. 5. Erik Morales UD12 Manny Pacquiao (March 19, 2005) In all of Manny Pacquiao’s victories over some of the best fighters in his divisions, his two-point loss to Erik Morales may go down as his most exciting fight, at least at the very moment. Going into the fight, Pacquiao was the favorite to beat Morales, who was coming off a decision loss to Marco Antonio Barrera in their third fight. This was Pacquiao’s first fight as the main event on a PPV card. The bout took place at partisan but enthusiastic MGM Grand Garden Arena. Everyone was anticipating a great fight and both warriors delivered. The tone of fight was set at the very first round, when Pacquiao drove Morales into ropes but the Mexican champion came back strong driving Pacquiao into the ropes. In the 5th round, Pacquiao sustained a cut and began to press more to try to knockout Morales. But Morales stuck to his disciplined game plan by keeping Pacquiao at the end of his jab. The final round saw Pacquiao desperately trying to pull the fight out and Morales, at of nowhere but in character as a true fighter, stood there and traded with Pacquiao to finish the fight. Morales won a unanimous decision 115-113 on all scorecards. After the loss, Pacquiao and his trainer vowed to improve and Pacquiao went on to knock out Morales in the rematch and rubber match. The fight will go down as Morales’ greatest victory of his career. For Pacquiao, it legitimized his status as a boxing star and the fighter who can not only bring the fans, but bring the excitement in a big event. 4. Israel Vasquez SD12 Rafael Marquez (March 03, 2008) It’s very rare in boxing that a rematch (or in this case a rubber match) surpasses the original bout (or bouts in this case). Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez split knockout victories over each other in the first two fights. Both bouts were intense and exciting until they ended suddenly. Going into the 3rd fight, many expected a great fight but not on the same level as the previous two because both fighters suffered a lot of physical damage in both fights. However, the third fight became the greatest of the three as both fighters stood toe-to-toe for 12 rounds. In the 4th round, Marquez was able to drop and seriously hurt Vasquez. If the 3rd fight played out like the first two, Marquez would have been able to finish Vasquez off. However, Vasquez was able to rally in the championship rounds, scoring a last second knockdown over Marquez in the 12th round. Both fighters were bloodied, bruised, and battered, and neither of them deserved to lose. But on the official scorecards, Vasquez’s 12th round knockdown proved to be the difference in a split decision win 114-111 (Vasquez), 113-112 (Vasquez), and 114-111 (Marquez). After three grueling fights in a row, Vasquez and Marquez took a year off to recuperate. They are expected to have a forth fight in 2010. It’s almost evil to ask both fighters to repeat or exceed the show they put on when they last fought, but when they do fight, it’s always a war. 3. Mickey Ward MD10 Arturo Gatti (May 18, 2002) Mickey Ward and Arturo Gatti will forever be linked in one of the greatest trilogies of all time. Prior to their first encounter in 2002, both fighters were trying to make comebacks and attempting to get one more title shot. Both Ward and Gatti were always known as blood and guts warriors and matching the two together would guarantee fireworks. Like all the fights on the list, fans expected an all out war and fighters delivered that and more. Arturo Gatti took an early lead when he tried to box and use his speed advantage over Ward. However, Ward’s brutal body attack eventually started to wear Gatti down. And once Ward established the body attack, Gatti threw out the boxing and the battle began. The highlight of the fight was in the 9th round when Ward landed a crushing body blow that would’ve stopped many of today’s fighters. Even after Gatti was able to beat the count, Ward battered him for the next two minutes. The fight could have been stopped at any point as Gatti took a lot of punishment. All credit goes to veteran referee, Frank Cappuccino, for giving Gatti the chance to end the fight on his own terms. And with 30 seconds left in that round, Gatti came back to stagger a winded Ward and survived the round. The fight was only 10 rounds and Ward won a majority decision (94-94, 94-93, and 95-93). Ward and Gatti fought two more times after with Gatti winning two decisions. Ward retired after the third fight after getting paid one million dollars for the third fight, a remarkable feat for a fighter who never won a major world title. Gatti went on to win a title at 140lbs and extended his career a few more years after many people thought he was done after getting beat by Oscar De La Hoya 2001. 2. Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo (May 07, 2005) The only reason why Morales-Pacquiao I wasn’t the fight of the year in 2005 was because two months after that fight, Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo engaged in a brutal contest with the most memorable ending this decade. Corrales and Castillo were clearly the two best lightweights at the time and both fought for the undisputed championship. As the fight began both fighters stood in the pocket and gave as punishment as they were willing to receive. For nine rounds, Corrales and Castillo literally stood toe-to-toe exchanging hard, compact blows and both started to show the affects of the damage they laid on each other. Corrales appeared to be getting the worse of the exchanges as Castillo didn’t look like he going to down any time soon. In the classic 10th round, Castillo dropped Corrales with a left hook just 30 seconds in that round. Corrales was able to beat the count, but it was clear he now needed a knockout to win. Castillo was able to knock Corrales down again with Corrales beating the count at 9. Referee Tony Weeks deducted a point after Corrales intentionally split out his mouthpiece in order to get additional rest time. Corrales seemed out on his feet and being way behind on points he needed to pull off a miracle to win the fight. That miracle happened seconds later when Corrales landed a right hand that stunned Castillo. Corrales then landed a left hook and had Castillo out on his feet and defenseless on the ropes. Even though Castillo did not go down, the referee came in and stopped the fight after seeing Castillo on the ropes helpless. Castillo knocked out Corrales with one punch in their rematch, but that was after Castillo failed to make the 135lbs weight limit. A third fight was scheduled but canceled at the weigh in when Castillo once again came in overweight. Neither fighter was ever the same after that brutal battle. That was Corrales’ last victory in his career and Castillo hasn’t won a world title since, but they will forever be linked in one of the greatest fights in history. 1. Erik Morales SD12 Marco Antonio Barrera (February 19, 2000) This was the fight that forever made me a boxing fan. The bout featured to two best Mexican fighters, fighting to become the number one pride of their country. And to top that off, both fighters hated each other with a passion. Morales was on the way up and gaining a lot of steam and popularity. Just a few years before that, it was Barrera who was on top of the boxing world, but after two loses against Junior Jones, Barrera was seeking to regaining his dominance in the sport. Going into the fight, many expected the younger and bigger Morales to be too much for Barrera. However, when the fight started, it was Barrera who set the pace with a good body attack. Barrera was much more into the fight early than Morales, who started off slow. But as the fight progressed, Morales began to get into the fight more and the leather started flying. In the fifth round, it looked like Morales seized control of the fight when he hammered Barrera with right hands. However, Barrera proved he was not going to go away quietly when he stunned and almost dropped Morales, who had never been dropped in his career prior to the fight. Throughout the fight, pace was intense and the control swayed from each fighter every round. Barrera seemed to pull ahead in the championship rounds, gaining an extra point as a result of a scored knockdown over Morales in the 12th round, even though the knockdown was not legitimate. 12 rounds did not seem enough for the two and fans inside the arena and watching on HBO wanted more. Morales scored a controversial split decision with scores of 114-113 (Morales), 114-113 (Barrera), and a questionable (at best) 115-112 (Morales). The result of the fight only intensified the rivalry. The fight proved Barrera was far from done and he went on to give Prince Naseem Hamed his only defeat. Morales struggled a bit after the fight when he won close decisions at 126lbs. The two fought in a rematch, which was a total reverse of the first fight. This time it was Morales who had to prove he could continue to fight at a high level. Barrera won the rematch as well as the third fight. Even today, the two fighters would still prefer not to be in the same room together. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jason Aniel.  |
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