WELL NOW THAT THE YEAR IS SEEMINGLY AT ITS END WHAT IS THE ONE MEMORY THAT YOU WILL TAKE OUT OF THIS YEAR FOR THE SPORT, IT COULD BE IN THE RING OR OUT...FOR ME...UNFORTUNATLY THE MEMORY I WILL TAKE OUT OF THIS YEAR IS THE DAY I HEARD DIEGO CORRALES WAS KILLED IN HIS MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT...I KNOW ALOT OF PPL AROUND HEAR HAVE THEIR OPINION ON HIM AS A PERSON AND WHATNOT BUT ITS NEVER KOOL WHEN A YOUNG MAN IS TAKEN TO SOON...DIEGO WAS A GREAT FIGHTER AND ONE THAT I MARKED OUT FOR ALL THE TIME HE FOUGHT...NO MATTER WHAT BOXING BROUGHT US THIS ONE WILL BE WITH ME NOT ONLY FOR THIS YEAR BUT FOR MANY YEARS TO COME...WHAT ARE YOU GUYS THOUGHTS FOR THE YEAR...
I'm wondering why the hell I have some medical beads bed ad instead of that unknown Maxim ad girl with the ginormous eyes under your post? 2007 ending on a bad note, it seems.
Well, it's no secret that boxing needs some new stars and I thought this was a great year for some of fighters to raise their status in the sport. Some long-time veterans like Juan Manuel Marquez and Joe Calzaghe gained what are by far the most significant wins of heir careers, while prospects like Kelly Pavlik and Nonito Donaire (and David Haye overseas) scored spectacular KO victories in their breakthrough title fights. Other champions simply increased their status immensley, like Juan Diaz against Frietas and Diaz and Miguel Cotto who cemented himself as a huge star with back-to-back packed houses at MSG against arguably the two best opponents of his career and Mayweather who elevated himself beyond the sport with the help of the Golden Boy, "There's Only One" Ricky Hatton, 24/7 and Dancing with the Stars. And heading into next year, the heavyweight division appears set up to finally start to clear things out at the top beginning early on in 2008.
Floyd beating Oscar in more convincing fashion, and Oscar showing that he had the potential but not the drive or grittiness to be one of the truly all-time greats. Floyd has it in more abundance other than in one-shot KO power, but Floyd wins the big ones without controversy whereas Oscar at best was a hair above SOME of his toughest contemporaries.
Was this something you didn't know before about about DLH? If he couldn't do it when he was younger and more active, it wasn't a great bet he would when he was older, coming out of retirement and only fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Mayweather gets a lot of credit for the victories this year, but I do think that there were significant deficiencies both opponents had this year...despite their names. Everybody knew DLH was going to fade in the second half of the bout...and Mayweather's corner reminded him of this continually throughout the bout. Hatton, likewise, wasn't a legitimate top welterweight contender (not with the inclusion of Mosley, Cotto and Williams)...and his fight with Collazo did expose his weaknesses. That isn't to say there's any perfect opponents out there for Mayweather, but there's one with less working against them.
I look at 2007 as the best year boxing has had in some time, and I hope boxing can build off of that momentum. Hopefully 2008 and beyond will have better undercards, less pay per views, more new stars and a couple of heavyweights worth getting excited about. TFK
