*The Year in Review*

*The Good*

Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym wins the honor of being my favorite Thai fighter of the year. Poonsawat passed his first major test with flying colors when he defeated highly touted, and undefeated Ricardo Cordoba of Panama for the WBA interim bantamweight championship. Kratingdaenggym is scheduled to fight Wladmir Sidorenko for the “real” title sometime in 2006. Keep your eyes on him.

Jose Navarro gets a second chance at the WBC Super Flyweight Championship. Early in 2005 he challenged Masamori Tokuyama in Tokyo, Japan only to have the title brutally stolen from him in one of the worst decisions of the year.

The Chris John – Juan Manuel Marquez fight originally scheduled to take place December 9th on the island of Borneo in Indonesia has once again been rescheduled. The bout had been originally scheduled for December 9th, however was postponed until February 9th due to an ankle injury suffered by John. The bout is now scheduled for March 4th to give John more time to sufficiently recover. So where’s the good in all this? Barring any unforeseen disasters this bout will come off and we’ll get rid of one of those dreaded “interim” titles. Also good - The Sweet Science (more specifically me) will be in Borneo where the fight takes place, covering the event. I always like being at fights between two highly skilled fighters in the middle of the jungle.

*The Bad*

The list is oh so long…far too long.

Let’s start with the fact the alphabet organs (and they are ORGANS) are still here and sanctioning fights. You used to be able to count boxing’s champions on two hands. Now that figure has risen to so many I haven’t a clue what the figure is.

When will the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF realize hundreds of different champions cheapens the sport and the titles once coveted by the fighters? Probably never, but I can dream can’t I? Maybe one day the ORGANS will do away with their Sulaimanesque logic and put their sanctioning fees to good use too, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I can dream though, can’t I?

One pet peeve of mine – When one of the ORGANS has their rules, regulations and mandatories clearly stated on their websites for the public but then don’t adhere to them. I guess I’m still dreaming.

*The Ridiculous*

Most ridiculous title fight:
The women’s WBC minimum weight championship between Nanako Kikuchi of Japan and Thailand’s Nongmai Sor Siriporn which was held in a prison in Thailand went largely unnoticed by most boxing pundits, however their fight was covered by nearly every major newspaper on the planet. Sor Siriporn went from unknown to number three in the WBC rankings to world title contender. With Kikuchi having fought only six times and Sor Siriporn having zero recorded professional bouts on her ledger, this fight gets my vote for most ridiculous title fight of the year.

Kikuchi won the fight via 7th round TKO.

It’s bad enough to drop your first fight after going 21-0, but when you blow a guy out 120-109 and still lose a split decision, how insulting is that? That’s exactly what happened to WBC Super Flyweight contender Jose Navarro. He not only had his title stolen out from under him, he had his pants, his underwear, and the gold in his teeth removed in his Jan. 2005 bout against Katsushige Kawashima in Tokyo, Japan. One judge scored it a shutout from Navarro, 120-109 while the other two had it 114-115, 113-115. Katsushige needed 50 stitches from the three cuts he received at the hands of Navarro but somehow he walked away the champion.

In Kawashima’s next fight, he dropped the rubber match, a unanimous decision and his title to Masamori Tokuyama. Navarro won his next two fights after the Kawashima debacle by KO, and will challenge for the title held by Tokuyama in February 2006.

Scott Mallon is The Sweet Science’s Far East correspondent . To read more of his work