SUPER JOE, MARGARITO, PAC CARRY SPORT INTO 2009
Union City, NJ– Coming off of a transitional year for many fighters that had cashed in and tuned out in 2007, 2008 proved a year for breakthrough cult talents. Some were obscure because had no avenue through which to meet champions until this year. Others are from cultures where boxing simply is not yet through all this, Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs), Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs), and Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), respectively, came through to give us some of the most memorable fights of our generation.
THE KIND OF YEAR THAT SAVES BOXING
Excluding, of course, the shameful activity of the heavyweight division and Tito Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs), who is working his way up there apparently, 2008 was the kind of year that it has become trendy to claim will save the sport of boxing. Sure, not everything was butterflies and unicorns for our sport, thanks to the likes formerly respectable champions like Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs), who put his monetary interests before his careers legitimacy in allowing the impossible to occur and setting off the celebratory yelping of several nations worth of Pac fans. One mans buffoonery cannot destroy a years worth of great fights and great fighters, however. Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs) finally got a world title, and Ricardo Torres (32-2, 28 KOs) and Kendall Holt (25-2, 13 KOs) gave us the most exhilarating fight of the year: all 61 seconds of it, replete with knockouts, questionable refereeing, and a shower of beer and miscellaneous waste from the crowd when the fight was called. Yet for a years worth of drama and mastery of boxing, we turn to our new Big Three., CALZAGHES SWAN SONG BEST OF 08
Its not whether you win or notÃ_Winky Wrights (51-4-1, 25 KOs) exasperating yet successful ring malaise has proven that much. It is precisely how a fighter commands a ring, the familiarity and confidence with which a fighter asserts his skill, not just power or his speed, but quite simply his skill. In this strict definition of success within our sport it is quite evident that Joe Calzaghe has far outstripped all his colleagues this year with his victories against Roy Jones, Jr. (52-5, 38 KOs) and, more importantly, Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs). After months of taunting and accusations of cowardice from the Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 KOs) clan, Calzaghe took it all in stride. Employing the wisdom that comes with holding a world title for more than a decade, he challenged the biggest comparable threat in his division in Hopkins, who later ran lazy circles around Pavlik. It takes a character of astronomical flair and talent to make a fight with Bernard Hopkins both interesting and favorable to oneself, both of which Calzaghe did easily. After Hopkins, he consumed Jones like an after-dinner mint. Few fights as lopsided as his recent encounter with Jones are so entertaining, but watching Calzaghe spin around the ring and flaunt his talent in such a cocky and elegant way never seems to get old. Calzaghe himself, however, seems to feel his mouth water at the prospect of retirement, so it suits us best to look at the successes this year has brought our sport that will remain valuable into 2009.
MARGARITO TAKES CENTER STAGE
If Calzaghe deserves the title of most talented fighter of the year, one man certainly merits the title of most improved. If not in talent, the welterweight division did create a new mainstream star, someone who has, if not the charisma, certainly the winning ability of a major boxing figure. A fighter much maligned in my column for his sloppiness within the ring and generally unappealing demeanor without it, but nonetheless respected. Few fighters have the patience to remain in the sidelines for so many years while watching obviously inferior talents make all the money and collect all the glory. Fewer still have the determination and confidence to slog along anyway and return all the faith his fans put into his talent and then some by slaughtering the king of his division. The year 2008 cannot belong to anyone but Antonio Margarito. With his stellar defeat of a younger Kermit Cintron (30-2, 27 KOs) being the most respectable on his record at the opening of 2008, Margarito had a lot to complete in order to prove his fans right. He opened up on a good note, solidifying a victory that many who had seen Cintron fight others considered, for the most part, a fluke. It was not. Margarito, then not particularly known for his finesse against technical fighters, challenged Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs), a man few thought him capable of besting. His victory against the undefeated Puerto Rican, beating the champion into submission in a way he had never previously experienced, made Margarito everything he had been to his fanbase for years. This may still not make him particularly likeable, marketable, or fun, but no one can take away from Margarito his iron chin, mental determination, and punching power at a weight where fists like his are not common.
MEXICO LOSES THREE MORE FIGHTERS TO PACMAN
Of course an honorable mention goes to the weakest link in the 2008 triumvirate for retiring three more exhausted Mexican fighters, the last one sinking into an abyss of economic opportunism and senseless degradation the likes of which we havent seen since photos leaked of the man in lingerie. As much fun as it seems to proclaim Pacquiao the new Obama, tattoo his face on my chest, and offer him my firstborn child like everyone from Ring Magazine on down seems to do being, it is difficult to take someone like him seriously when everyone he fights is from a very specific school of boxers with obviously waning talents. For winning titles in three different divisions, I do not congratulate Pacquiao as much (though my obvious praise goes to him) as I congratulate his handlers, who have managed to dig up the most simultaneously well-known, marketable, and absolutely meek opposition in a world where the meek inherit little more than brain damage. That said, full congratulations to the brains behind the highly-valuable Pacquiao product, who proved themselves in 2008 as the most economically savvy bunch in the sport today.
BIGGER CHALLENGES COMING IN 09
For Pacquiao, 2009 holds before him the biggest challenge of his career, Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), who, just having turned 30, meets Pacquiaos age requirement but brings into the ring a completely different school of fighting than his Mexican counterparts. Margarito is similarly jumping into a lions pit against the great Shane Mosley (45-5, 38 KOs), whose Madison Square Garden bout against Cotto elevated the sport to new heights of speed, skill, and quality entertainment. Unfortunately, for the greatest of the three, the future probably holds little more than gardening and child-rearing in some obscure corner of the UK. Even if there is a future fight for Calzaghe, the landscape is barren for his divisionÃ_perhaps only a rematch with Mikkel Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) would merit revisiting the ring. Regardless of the future, boxing fans have a lot to be thankful for this New Years Eve as they wave goodbye to another chapter of sports history.
Frances Martel
Note: When it comes to boxing, “The Fight Chick” is featured exclusively at www.RingTalk.com. In addition, she has worked for Telemundo television and is also the Publisher of the Harvard University Independent, a weekly magazine put together by Harvard students. Comments related to this article can be left below.