Of the eight categories in SecondsOut’s sixth annual end of year awards, it is the honour for the greatest Fight of 2005 which boasts the most resounding odds-on favourite.
Despite the sustained violence of Morales w pts 12 Pacquiao, the hellish bloodbath that was Arce w rsf 10 Hussein Hussein, the completely unpredictable drama of Cotto v Torres and the best efforts of Brewster and Krasniqi to jumpstart the heavyweight division back to life it was beautiful brutality Diego Corrales v Jose Luis Castillo I which, from the second it reached it’s almost inconceivable conclusion, which was the shoo-in for ‘Fight of the Year’.
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Hailed as an instant classic which has already spawned one sequel (the rubber match explodes in the New Year), the first nine rounds of the Las Vegas epic were every bit as good as those of pretty much any fight in history you’d care to mention. But the nine rounds of almost (almost) Hagler v Hearns intensity were capped by a finish that, had it been choreographed into an instalment of ‘Rocky’ would have been laughed for being overly dramatic.
Castillo had Corrales crippled, finished, done, when he smashed home a left hook half way through the round. ‘Chic’ hit the canvas but has wherewithal enough to spit his mouthpiece to gain precious seconds – only to be hammered to the ground once again. Semi-conscious, the defending WBO lightweight champion again spat his gunshield (and took an academic point deduction) but, somehow in those stolen seconds, found the energy and will for a final furious assault which so suddenly ended the fight.
The controversy ‘gunshield-gate’ and indeed the storm over how Castillo went about winning the rematch in October will never be enough to detract what was simply an awesome prize fight.
But, will it actually win the SecondsOut readers’ vote? Probably, but nothing is for certain until every ballot is counted. The voting public may assume that Corrales v Castillo I is going to walk away with it and, just to be different, give their vote to one of the other four categories. Moreover, I know a lot of you out there believe that Corrales cheated to win and, seeing as Castillo cheated to get his revenge, don’t see why two rule-benders deserve your vote.
In any other year,Erik Morales w pts 12 Manny Pacquiao would be considered the shoo-in for this Award. Anxious to repair the damage to his reputation and ego inflicted by Marco Antonio Barrera, Morales took on the man who knocked out Barrera two years ago, the sledge-hammer handed southpaw ‘Pac-Man’.
Quite honestly, there was absolutely no way this fight was not making this list. Both men are attack-minded and the fight explode within 40 seconds and both men hurt the other in the very first round. In his obsession to become the first to KO ‘El Terrible’ Pacquiao forgot his battle plan of attacking the Mexican’s mid-section and well left-cross crazy for much of the fight.
That tactical mistake allowed Morales just enough room to use his better boxing skills to be the difference making in just enough of the rounds but, he too, made a horrific miscalculation in the last round when he chose – and chose is the word – to stand still and trade with the Philippine powder keg. And he got badly hurt for his trouble but, having fought half blind after getting cut early on, Pacquiao knew he’d been beaten at the final bell, if only just.
Underlining the fight’s blistering competitiveness is the fact that next month’s rematch is considered too close to call by many pundits.
As cardiac-arresting as Morales’s win was, there are many who believe that more than not quite deserving to be dubbed the fight of the year, it wasn’t even the best fight of the night at the MGM Grand. Jorge Arce’s WBC flyweight win over Hussein Hussein was a bloody car-crash of a match-up.
Arce, who is a megastar south of the border thanks to his antics in the Big Brother VIP reality TV show, caught the over-eager Aussie flush with a left hook in the first and took the next two rounds but Hussein had a fantastic fourth round. With a hideously broken nose Arce was gushing more blood than a shark attack victim and there were some wildly exciting exchanges in the middle rounds.
The challenger boxed to win the seventh and eighth but then complained to his corner than his jaw could well be broken. Gamely, he took the fight to Arce in the ninth but was nearly take out by a murderous attack in the final few sounds. Arce had caught his second wind and a right hand/left hook combination ended a savage fight in the tenth.
Arce wiped the Australian out in two rounds in October’s rematch but that takes nothing away from the epic depths of courage he and the champion took each other to in March.
No-one will be more surprised to see Miguel Cotto w rsf 7 Ricardo Torres on this shortlist than WBO 140lbs champ Cotto himself. Torres, unbeaten but completely untested, was supposed to be walkover job, a last minute replacement brought in to replace Italian Gianluca Branco so Cotto could still be the chief support to Klitschko v Peter in Atlantic City October. How wrong were all were…
The unheralded Torres had a high WBO ranking but, quite frankly, that is usually more of an indictment than recommendation and the list of no-names he’d splattered in his native Columbia was truly uninspiring. But, regardless, the 25-year-old very nearly pulled off the upset of the year when he hammered Cotto to the canvas in the seconds round.
Desperately hurt, Cotto needed all his skills and, when the rampant Torres bulled his way through that, all his courage to survive the round. From there the pair blasted at each other as if they’d eaten each other’s children for round after round until Cotto, his superior class finally telling, managed to deck Torres for good with a left hook right out of Hades.
An unobvious choice but one I am very glad caught the attention of our Award’s panel is WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster’s astonishing ninth round knockout of the determined, dangerous and highly motivated Luan Krasniq.
Because the fight was not broadcast in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia or indeed anywhere in the English-speaking world only a handful of readers will have seen the fight. And that is a crying shame because if this terrific big-man battle had been seen by a wider audience then I believe fewer people would be asking why the heavyweight division can no longer produce fireworks.
Boxing on what would have been the 100th birthday of German icon Max Schmeling, Krasniqi fought superbly for much of the fight, hitting and hurting the defending champion America several times. However, when his stamina ebbed after six rounds of constant motion, ‘Relentless Lamon’ began to land his left hooks and right hands with ominous regularity.
Finally, after several bitterly contested rounds, the champ broke through with a crushing left hook which starched the German challenger. Incredibly, the referee allowed the home fighter 18 second to recover and then the bell sounded to save him from an eigth round KO.
A dog tired Brewster had to effectively score a second KO in as many rounds and, after a last throw of the dice by Krasniqi, he did exactly that in what could was be the best heavyweight title fight since Lewis v Klitschko in 2003.
It was a terrific fight (no ‘heavyweight fight’ precursor needed) and Brewster’s accomplishment is rightly recognised as one of the best wins of 2005.
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**** Still need your memory jogging? Check out SecondsOut’s fight reports as they were filed on the night…
Corrales w rsf 10 Castillo (Las Vegas, May) http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=16263&highlight=Deigo%20Corrales
Morales w pts 12 Pacquiao (Las Vegas, March) http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=15866&highlight=Erik%20Morales
Jorge Arce w rsf 10 Hussein Hussein I (Las Vegas, March) http://www.secondsout.com/World/news.cfm?ccs=225&cs=15867&highlight=Jorge%20Arce
Miguel Cotto w ko 7 Ricardo Torres (September, Atlantic City) http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=17461&highlight=Ricardo%20Torres
Lamon Brewster w rsf 9 Luan Krasniqi (September, Germany) http://www.secondsout.com/World/news.cfm?ccs=225&cs=17492&highlight=Lamon%20Brewster
