The yearly publications continue to announce their best of and reviews for 2009. And we will do the same as we recap the year that was 2009. We will continue to look back at the fights and events that made 2009 so special. So here are a few of the events and fights that took place between July and December.
July
1st- The great Alexis Arguello is found dead of an apparently self inflicted gun shot wound. The hall of famer was known as much for his kindness and sportsmanship as he was for his incredible ring accomplishments. He will also be remembered for the war he had with Aaron Pryor in their first fight. A fight many recognize as one of boxing’s best ever.
11th- Joseph Agbeko beats Vic Darchinyan by a 12 round unanimous decision to retain his IBF bantamweight crown.
11th- IBF cruiserweight titlist Tomasz Adamek defends his title with a 4th round kayo of outgunned Bobby Gunn.
11th- Fan favorite Arturo Gatti is found dead in a Brazilian hotel. Gatti’s wife is intially charged with murder, but authorities later reversed their findings and say Arturo commited suicide. Family and friends say that Gatti would never have taken his own life and are pursuing other avenues to reverse the Brazilian government’s findings.
14th- Showtime announces the formation of it’s Super Six super middleweight tournament. The network mysteriously decides not to invite three of the top seven super middleweights in the world.
15th- Former heavyweight Ken Norton receives a statue of himself in his birthplace of Jacksonville, Illinois. It is located in front of the Pathway Service United building. The company helps the developmentally disabled.
25th- Former welterweight and junior middleweight champion Vernon Forrest is shot and killed during a robbery attempt. Vernon was considered one of the real good guys in boxing and helped start Destiny’s Child. An organization that helped mentally challenged adults.
July- Former Miguel Cotto trainer, Evangelista Cotto, sues his nephew for torturous acts. The two had been at odds for years and the feud came to a boiling point when Miguel fired his uncle.
July- Former junior lightweight champion Rocky Lockridge is reported to be homeless and living on the streets of Camden, New Jersey for the last ten years.
August
1st- Devon Alexander scores an upset by stopping top ten junior welterweight Junior Witter in 8 rounds.
15th- Nonito Donaire beats Rafael Concepcion by unanimous decision to win the WBA super flyweight title.
22nd- Juan Diaz wins a highly controversial decision over Paulie Malignaggi in Juan’s hometown of Houston, Texas. While the fight was competitive, it was Gale Van Hoy’s scorecard giving Diaz 10 rounds that caused much of the uproar. Houston seems to have become the capital of hometown decisions in big fights.
28th-Tavoris Cloud firmly plants his name on the list of top light heavyweights with his win over veteran Clinton Woods.
28th- Juan Urango knocks out power punching Randall Bailey in one of the year’s top slugfest. Urango stops Bailey in the 11th round.
Also in August- Floyd Mayweather Junior’s uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, is arrested in Las Vegas and charged with coercion with force and battery strangulation after an attack on a female boxer.
September
12th- Z Gorres knocks out veteran Cruz Carbajal in the 6th round.
12th- Julio Caesar Chavez Junior stops Jason LeHoulliers in the 1st round.
14th- Irish super middleweight prospect Darren Sutherland, 27, commits suicide. Sutherland won the Bronze medal for Ireland at the 2008 Olympics.
19th- Michael Katsidis beats prospect Vicente Escobedo by split decision to win the WBO lightweight title.
19th- Chris John gets his revenge on Rocky Juarez. Their first fight was wrongly declared a draw when it was fought in Juarez’s hometown of Houston. This time they fight in Las Vegas and John wins by decision. But not before having to survive a late charge by Juarez in the final rounds.
19th- Floyd Mayweather comes out of retirement to hand Juan Manuel Marquez a lopsided loss. The win sets up a possible fight with the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto winner.
26th-Vitali Klitschko wins all ten rounds before Chris Arreola’s corner stops the fight. While game, Arreola took a beating that showed he stills needs a lot of work to beat the top heavys.
Also in September- Mikkel Kessler’s fight against Gusmyr Perdomo draws an incredible 72% market share on Danish television.
Nonito Donaire is hospitalized with Dengue fever. That condition is usually caused by a mosquito bite.
Junior middleweight prospect James Kirkland pleads guilty to gun possession by a convicted felon and is sentenced to two years in prison.
October
2nd- Ernie “Indian Red” Lopez dies at 64 from demetia. Lopez was a welterweight contender in the 60’s and 70’s.
10th- Juan Manuel Lopez survives a scare as he holds on to win a controversial decision over Rogers Mtagwa.
10th- Israel Vasquez returns to the ring with a tougher than expected win over Angel Priolo. The win sets up a fourth fight with Rafael Marquez later next year.
17th-The super six tournament starts on Showtime. Arthur Abraham stops Jermain Taylor with a devastating knockout in the final round. Later, Carl Froch and Andre Dirrell look amateurish and sloppy as Froch wins a somewhat controversial decision.
November
14th- Manny Pacquiao stops Miguel Cotto in the 12th round. It is Manny’s second megafight of the year and cements his place as the best fighter of the decade.
21st- Andre Ward scores a huge upset when he stops super six favorite Mikkel Kessler in Oakland. Most had Kessler as the tourney favorite going into the event.
28th- Lucian Bute secures his spot as one of the world’s top super middleweights when he stops Librado Andrade in the 4th round. Bute dropped the iron jawed Andrade with a short hook and finished him with a debilitating body shot.
December
2nd- Danny Green upsets Roy Jones Junior by dropping and stopping him in the 1st round. The loss spoils plans for a Jones-Bernard Hopkins rematch early in 2010.
12th- Vitali Klitschko wins an unanimous decision over survivalist Kevin Johnson. Johnson seemed only intent on surviving and basically stunk out the building.
13th- Paulie Malignaggi wins his rematch with Juan Diaz.
19th- Edwin Valero stops Hector Velazquez at the end of six rounds. Valero hopes that the win will garner bigger fights in 2010.
30th- Manny Pacquiao files a defamation lawsuit against all three Mayweathers (Floyd Jr., Floyd Sr. and Roger), Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy executives Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer. The lawsuit is based on the above mentioned saying that Pacquiao had previously taken performance enhancing drugs.
