Luca De Franco: THE YEAR THAT WAS
By Boxing News December 18th, 20052005 was definitely a good year for boxing, if you consider the number of exciting fights that took place all over the world. It was a very bad year, if you were hoping to see a new superstar destroying every opponent in his way to the top.
Samuel Peter looked to be that kind of outstanding power puncher, but Wladimir Klitschko made him (and everybody else) understand that he is just a little better than the average guy. After all, Peter was impressive against Jeremy Williams and Taurus Sykes, not exactly top-rated contenders.
Erik Morales, my favorite fighter pound-for-pound, had also a bad year, losing to a perennial underdog like Zahir Raheem. Floyd Mayweather is the only one who can legitimately say he had a very successful 2005 because after his recent performances everybody considers him the top man in boxing.
If I had to pick a fight of the year, my choice would be Miguel Angel Cotto vs. Ricardo Torres. It happened on September 24 in Atlantic City and it was for Cotto’s WBO super lightweight title. It reminded me of the great battles of the 1950s that I saw on VHS: seven rounds of nonstop action between an acclaimed champion (Cotto) and an unknown kid from Colombia (Torres) who was 28-0.
From the beginning, the underdog proved to everybody that he really believed he could win by attacking Cotto with a barrage of punches. How many so-called champions would have the guts to brawl with Cotto? Torres did and floored Cotto in the second round, forced him to throw low blows in the third (the referee didn’t deduct any points), staggered him in round five and engaged an all-out war until the seventh round when Cotto won by KO.
It doesn’t matter that Cotto floored Torres four times in the bout; what counts is that Torres got up three times and gave it his all. The crowd couldn’t believe it, since the fight wasn’t supposed to be so spectacular. Cotto couldn’t believe it either. When he won, Cotto exploded with joy realizing he had survived the toughest test of his career.
On September 24, Miguel Angel Cotto proved to be a legitimate world champion – and a new star was born: Ricardo Torres. If the Colombian moves to the United States and signs with a major promoter, I’m sure he can make big money and win a world title. Being just 25 years old, Torres has the time to improve and maybe take over the super lightweight division.
Luca De Franco covers the Italian fight scene for The Sweet Science. To read more of this work
December 21st, 2005 at 11:10 am
I’m surprised you say it was a bad year for Morales. Didn’t he win the Morales/Pacquiao fight in March, against all odds (which had him as an underdog)? Zahir Raheem did have a great night against Morales, who looked confused against the hit and run style of Zahir, but I don’t hear anyone asking Erik to retire. In my eyes, it was just not Erik’s night. Should they consider a rematch, sure. Should the year only be remembered by Erik’s upset loss to Zahir? Not in my opinion it shouldn’t. Should Zahir get the credit for winning that fight and be considered a name in the sport of boxing, just because he was able to beat Morales? Maybe, but one upset win doesn’t make you a name in boxing. Just ask Winky Wright. It took two wins over Sugar Shane and a shut-out spectacular win over Tito Trinidad to get the boxing world recognition he craved for years.