Defying logic, following no formula, and enthralling all that watched; the first fight between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana was a tribute to the very essence of sport itself.
Whilst the art and skill of any sport can capture the imagination, there is nothing more enchanting than a good underdog story, and so far in the careers of Mayweather and Maidana, this is the biggest for both of them.
Sure, other fighters have come just as close – maybe closer – to defeating Mayweather (Oscar De La Hoya, Jose Luis Castillo) but both were seen as legitimate threats at the time. Maidana had upset the odds before, most notably when he derailed the Victor Ortiz and Adrien Broner hype-trains, but having already lost to some B-level fighters, no one was expecting him to cause the pound-for-pound number one boxer on the planet any problems.
So when Maidana landed the most punches we have ever seen Mayweather hit by, when he won at least a third of the 12 round fight and when he continually put “Money” in bad spots, it simply shocked the world.
Boxing fans with realistic expectations cannot have been too disappointed with what 2013.
2013 will go down as one of the best years of boxing in recent history. Thanks to big fights, big shocks and big knockouts, fight fans got everything they could have wanted in 2013.
More than just a trending revival, thanks to recent exciting fights and big bouts on the horizon, boxing is seemingly back as one of the most watched and profitable sports on earth. Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler had the whole of Britain enraptured, while the announcement of Floyd Mayweather fighting Saul Alvarez in September has made every sports fan around sit up and take notice. All over, boxing is far away from the days where many stated it was ‘dying’.