BOXING STARTS OFF WITH A BANG IN 2008

2008 has picked up right where last year left off: fighters taking risks, the class of the sport facing one another, and the fans seeing the fights they want to see. Even the past-their-prime Jones and Trinidad - a pairing which surfaced five years too late - proved to be more entertaining than the pundits were predicting. The performances of the fighters were enough to keep both alive in the "big fight" lottery. As a result, Jones-Dawson and Pavlik-Trinidad are interesting fights that may be on the horizon. Significantly, these intriguing matches aren't even the cream-of-the-crop of what's ahead.

After the fabulous Taylor-Pavlik encounter last fall, fans were treated with a Winter rematch. Although the fight didn't have the drama and fireworks of the first, it was a rough, hard-fought, closely contested battle. Two young, well-conditioned, talented and determined fighters both in their prime, fought one another bell-to-bell.

The two Pavlik-Taylor contests are exactly what the sport needs, and are illustrative of the quality fights the sport has been producing recently. There was a time when the boxing fan would often have to wait a year or two to see the best in any given division meet one another in the ring - if the encounter occurred at all. This is no longer the case. Whether it is the pressure of competition from MMA, a new sense of economic confidence brought about by the Mayweather-De La Hoya box-office bonanza, or the mathematical inevitability of sanity finally creeping into the sport, boxing has (at least temporarily) put its ship on course.

Just two weeks after Pavlik-Taylor II, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez met in the rubber match of their exciting trilogy. With the second encounter pegged by many as 2007 Fight of the Year, there was the possibility that the third match would be something of a let down. To everyone's delight, the fight lived up to its potential, and the result was an early candidate for this years best boxing match.

In the short span of just under 12 months, the two best in the junior featherweight division fought for the third time. All three fights were brutal, but each time the battered but victorious boxer offered his vanquished foe another chance at the title.

The cavalcade of excellent matches continues in March, with the much anticipated Manny Pacquiao- Juan Manuel Marquez match. Once again, two fighters in their prime who are at the top of their division, are risking their reputations, standing, and economic futures, with the benefits inuring to the fans.

The month of April brings us Hopkins-Calzaghe, a match which pits two of the most consistently successful fighters in boxing for the past 10 to 15 years. Hopkins, who is fast becoming the new Archie Moore, continues to defy and amaze. After his record-setting Middleweight reign was ended by Taylor, the forty-something boxer looked to be at the end of his trail. However, he bounced back from his two loses to Taylor to defeat a still capable Antonio Tarver, and to box the top-ten pound-for-pound Winky Wright to a draw.

Calzaghe, much maligned for his failure to fight on this side of the ocean, has never lost in his long professional career. He has also tallied a record-setting number of title defenses, and in doing so, is the only current fighter who can statistically rival Hopkins in this regard. However, where Hopkins has faced a virtual whose-who of the sport, Calzaghe has only a few top names on his resume.

Will Hopkins expose Calzaghe ? If Calzaghe shines, will his victory be downgraded as nothing more than a win over a boxer in his forties ? Or, will Calzaghe finally get his due ? Will the superior boxing minds of each lead to a ho-hum affair which a Hopkins match can sometimes produce ? Even with the prospect of such a result, what fight fan isn't looking forward to a match between these two fine boxers, not to mention the rest of the quality fights, which we can say with a newfound conviction, are coming our way in the months to come.