It was a very good fighting year for Manny Pacquaio, Joel Casamayor, James Toney, Shane Mosley and Vitali Klitschko.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins could celebrate successful if not spectacular rounds inside the ropes.
It was an up-and-down year for Roy Jones Jr. and Ricardo Mayorga.
After beating Vernon Forrest for a second time, welterweight Mayorga became a media darling for his cigarette and beer breaks from boxing’s strict regimen. But he came up a couple of puffs short Dec. 13 against Cory Spinks. Point deductions for hitting after the bell and holding and hitting behind the head cost Mayorga a draw against Spinks, who won a narrow majority decision.
Jones, meanwhile, raised his stature by wresting a heavyweight title from John Ruiz, then bruised his considerable reputation in a lackluster victory over light-heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver.
For Forrest, Oscar De La Hoya and Marco Antonio Barrera, it was not such a good year.
And for Evander Holyfield, Kirk Johnson and Diego Corrales, 2003 ended downright badly in the ring.
By pummeling a courageous but outmatched Barrera for 11 rounds before the fight was stopped, Filipino Pacquaio made a name for himself in Las Vegas, and hence the U.S., in one of the best fights of the year.
Similarly, Cuban defector Casamayor stood up to power-punching Corrales, getting knocked down once but often beating his opponent to the punch and flooring him twice en route to a technical knockout.
The junior-lightweight clash ended after six rounds when the ringside physician ruled that the inside of Corrales’ mouth was cut too badly for him to continue.
Despite its relatively quick finish, those half-dozen rounds held more action than many fights twice as long.
Toney deserves credit for moving up to heavyweight and making Holyfield look old, something the likes of Mike Tyson and Hasim Rahman were unable to do. Despite three losses and a draw in his last five fights, Holyfield still has been hedging about retiring.
Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis seemed to be leaning more definitely than Holyfield toward hanging up the gloves.
If Lewis does retire, that decision was surely nudged by his June 21 slugfest against Klitschko. Lewis prevailed by sixth-round technical knockout because Klitschko’s left eye was cut severely and bleeding. But Klitschko was ahead on all judges’ cards when the fight was stopped and had stung Lewis with hammering right hands when they stood and traded punches toe to toe.
All of which put Lewis vs. Klitschko on the list of top fights in 2003.
The heavyweight Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, each fought in one of the year’s most surprising bouts: Vitali’s stunningly easy knockout of Kirk Johnson and Wladimir’s equally dramatic knockout loss to Corrie Sanders. Both ended in the second round.
Johnson, by entering the ring at a flabby 260 pounds and taking huge all-or-nothing swings at Klitschko, wound up with nothing but a fast exit. After Johnson was knocked down twice, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. mercifully stopped the fight before the bell ended the second round.
Considering its potential, with two top contenders facing off, it was a disappointingly non-competitive bout.
Mosley and Forrest switched positions in 2003. Coming off back-to-back victories over Mosley, Forrest entered the year at the top of his game, only to lose twice to Nicaraguan slugger Mayorga. Meanwhile, Mosley resurrected his career by beating De La Hoya for a second time in their September rematch.
Junior middleweight De La Hoya, arguably boxing’s most charismatic practitioner and certainly one of its wealthiest, suffered another setback as a promoter. His star client is Barrera.
All of that said, here’s how we saw the past year in pugilism:
Fight of the year
Casamayor vs. Corrales. Even as Casamayor belted him with pinpoint accuracy, Corrales’ power kept him in contention until the end.
Fighter of the year
Pacquaio. He moved up from the 122-pound super-bantamweight to the 126-pound featherweight division, took on its recognized top fighter, Barrera, and overwhelmed him. That was more of an accomplishment than Jones moving up from light-heavyweight to heavyweight, seeking out and beating its most vulnerable champion, Ruiz.
Upsets of the year
Sanders knocking out Wladimir Klitschko in a heavyweight bout and light-heavyweight Julio Cesar Gonzalez ending Dariusz Michalczewski’s unbeaten string at 48 by split-decision victory on Michalczewski’s home turf in Germany. Sanders demolished Klitschko just as boxing “experts” were hailing the younger Wladimir as the more talented of the brothers.
Worst decision of the year
Heavyweight titlist Chris Byrd’s unanimous-decision victory over Fres Oquendo. Like De La Hoya against Mosley, former Chicagoan Oquendo was credited with landing more punches than Byrd by HBO’s ringside punch-count statisticians. But Oquendo, who also seemed to land the harder punches, suffered greater insult than De La Hoya, who at least was close on all three judges’ cards. One judge saw Oquendo losing nine of the 12 rounds.
Fights to see
And so, as the year winds down, what fights would we most like to see in the coming 12 months?
In no particular order, and heavy on rematches:
Manny Pacquaio vs. winner of Jesus Chavez vs. Erik Morales (scheduled for Feb. 28).
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Kostya Tszyu at 140-pound junior welterweight.
Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko II.
Casamayor vs. Corrales II (slated for March), with the winner facing Acelino Freitas.
Mosley-De La Hoya III, now that Mayorga has been derailed.
Antonio Tarver vs. Joe Calzaghe. Finally, there’s an interesting light-heavyweight matchup.
James Toney vs. Roy Jones Jr. as heavyweights or cruiserweights, whatever they want.
Middleweight Bernard Hopkins either moving up to fight Jones or perhaps down to 154 pounds to fight De La Hoya, who doesn’t seem ready to move up to middleweight.
