On November 13th, when Manny Pacquiao stepped into the ring to face Antonio Margarito, there were many people, this writer included, who thought that Margarito would prove to be just too big for ?Pac-Man.?
What transpired left no doubt in anyone?s mind that Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of this or any other era.
Outweighed by close to 20 pounds and once again fighting a much bigger man, Manny completely dominated Margarito by using his speed and boxing skills, which have been finely honed by his trainer, Freddie Roach.
By the end of the fight, Pacquiao, in addition to breaking a bone in Margarito?s face, had firmly established himself as the best fighter of this era, completely overshadowing his nemesis, Floyd-something-or-other.
Margarito, who had hoped his hand wrap controversy would end with a great performance against Manny, is now faced with people questioning just how long that went on. Since he was caught, one has to admit, he?s not the same fighter.
The following week, we were treated to the rematch between Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez on HBO. Their first fight was so intense; it was a candidate for ?Fight of the Year.?
And the second fight would not disappoint.
Borrowing a page from the Antonio Tarver playbook, a perfect storm developed in the second round, when Williams looked the wrong way, and leaned just the right way as Martinez was unleashing a powerful left hook.
When the punch landed, as was the case when Tarver caught Roy Jones with a similar punch, one could tell that the fight was over.
In fact, when Williams hit the canvas, it was obvious by the frightening look in his eyes that he wasn?t getting up.
It was a stellar performance from Martinez and a devastating knockout loss for Williams, leaving many to wonder if Paul Williams will ever be the same fighter again.
November 27th finished out the month with an entire evening of boxing on both HBO and Showtime.
Showtime?s ?Super Six? continued with Carl Froch vs. Arthur Abraham and Andre Ward squaring up against Sakio Bika, who filled in for Andre Dirrell after Dirrell pulled out of the fight, in a non-?Super Six? title tilt.
In the first fight, broadcast from Finland, Froch was a puzzle that the doomed Abraham couldn?t figure out.
Kept on the end of a jab most the night, Abraham was relegated to following Froch around the ring as Froch picked him apart with speed and movement.
By the end, Abraham was left to try and score the one big shot that never came and he lost by a wide margin.
And Andre Ward did not have an easy evening with Bika either. From the onset, Bika pressed Ward, turning it into a brawl.
However, Ward dug deep and began landing shots on the inside, eventually backing up Bika.
Because of the type of fight it turned out to be, it was marred by many headbutts.
At the end of a hard-fought battle, Ward won by a substantial margin.
HBO also offered an outstanding night of boxing featuring Celestino Caballero against Jason Litzau and World Lightweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez against Michael Katsidis.
First of all, no one expected Litzau to win but, apparently, no one told Jason.
Litzau fought the fight of his life, oftentimes making Caballero look almost amateurish. So much so, that there were several instances in the fight when Caballero actually turned his back on the attacking Litzau.
After a great fight, Litzau came away with the victory, dashing Caballero?s hopes for a title shot in the process.
But the fight of the night belonged to Marquez and Katsidis.
Marquez, who was defending his championship, tried to take control early but Katsidis dropped him in round three but Marquez persevered and round by round, he began to wear Katsidis down.
This fight continued with non-stop action and both fighters throwing and landing many big power shots.
By 2:14 of the ninth round, after closely watching the relentless punishment from Marquez, referee Kenny Bayless could see that Katsidis was out of gas, not countering and looking rather vacant. Bayless decided Katsidis had taken enough punishment and he mercifully stopped the fight.
Take nothing away from Katsidis; he?s a hell of a fighter.
November was a great month for boxing and it just goes to show that there are good fights out there waiting to be made. If boxing were to put on shows like these on a regular basis, its resurgence would certainly be guaranteed.
You pay the bills, fans; so what do YOU think?
Allan Scotto can be reached at [email protected]
