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As 2007 winds down, boxing fans were treated to an
exciting year of big fights. Many fighters emerged onto the scene in 2007, while we also said good
bye to past greats. In many ways the year was
exciting and energizing, but in many ways the year was
also sad. While 2007 was a reminder of why we love boxing, it
was also a reminder of how tough the sport can be.
Here's a short look at guys who emerged and
some guys we said good bye to...
New middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik was one of
the biggest surprises of 2007. Pavlik first destroyed
Edison Miranda to earn a title shot. He
then shocked the world again when he arose from the
canvas, hurt and dazed, to knock out the formerly unbeaten Taylor,
thus becoming the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.
Chad Dawson was
another fighter who emerged onto the scene. Dawson went
from prospect to champ when he knocked off Tomasz
Adamek. Dawson now rules the light heavyweight
division, emerging like many thought he would.
Joe
Calzaghe further burst onto the pugilistic scene as he unified
the super middleweight division with a convincing win
over formerly unbeaten Mikkel Kessler. Calzaghe
showed that he is one of the best pound for
pounders in the world. Manny Pacquiao continued his reign as
one of the top fighters in the world as he beat Marco
Antonio Barrera again.
Miguel Cotto forced himself higher up
the pound for pound lists when he won an exciting fight over Shane Mosley, in what
could be considered a Fight of the Year candidate. He
also put himself in line as the best possible
candidate for Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Like Chad Dawson,
welterweight Paul Williams went from prospect to champ
in 2007, knocking out the highly regarded Antonio
Margarito to win the WBO crown. Williams emerged as
one of the top welterweights in the world and could get a big money
fight with Cotto.
2007 was also the end for some of this era's
biggest and most popular fighters. We said good bye to
Mexican legends Erik Morales and Marco Antonio
Barrera, who made their marks as two of the best
and most exciting fighters of this era. They secured their place
in the sport of boxing with three epic fights against each other.
Morales, who had lost two fights to Manny Pacquiao and another one to Zahir
Raheem, announced his retirement after a loss to David
Diaz earlier in the year. Barrera
announced his retirement after his September loss to
Manny Pacquiao; he had a prior loss to Juan Manuel
Marquez. Somehow 2008 will be not be the same without
Barrera and Morales.
We also said goodbye to two of Boxing's biggest
warriors in Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas. Their departure reminded us of the sad side of
Boxing, as we saw the effect of past wars catch
up with them. Gatti went out in his house,
the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. Gatti was knocked out by
Alfonso Gomez, and finally retired after the fight, thus ending the career of one of Boxing's most
exciting fighters. Vargas suffered back to back losses
to Shane Mosley before losing to Ricardo Mayorga in
Los Angeles. Like Gatti, Vargas announced he was done
after the fight.
Sadly, we also said goodbye to another of
Boxing's true warriors, Diego 'Chico' Corrales. Corrales, best
known for his epic encounters with Jose Luis Castillo,
died in a motorcycle accident earlier in the year in Las Vegas,
Nevada.
Corrales had his problems, but for those of us who met him,
we know he was truly a good guy; boxing lost a
great fighter and a great person that will be missed.
12-16-2007
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