2010 in Sports - Boxing

Boxing

• March 13 – Manny Pacquiao defeats Joshua Clottey by controlling the fight from start to finish, leading to Pacquiao winning by a unanimous decision. The fight was the first boxing match held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in front of over 41,000 people. This was Pacquiao's first defense of his newly awarded WBO welterweight title.
• March 20 – Wladimir Klitschko knocks out Eddie Chambers with a fierce left that hits Chambers in the temple with only five seconds left in the fight. The punch knocked Chambers out nearly instantly, with him collapsing to the canvas and hanging off the last rope. This was Klitschko's first defense of his Ring magazine heavyweight title, his fourth defense of his WBO heavyweight title, and his eighth defense of his IBF and IBO heavyweight titles.
• March 27 – Pongsaklek Wonjongkam defeats Kōki Kameda by a majority decision to win the WBC flyweight title and vacant Ring magazine flyweight title. This is the second time Wonjongkam has become the WBC flyweight champion, after first winning the title in March 2001. Wonjongkam defended the title seventeen times, until he lost to Daisuke Naito in July 2007. This fight is later named the best flyweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• April 17 – Kelly Pavlik loses to Sergio Gabriel Martínez in a close fight for Pavlik's WBC, WBO, and Ring magazine middleweight titles. Martínez controlled the early rounds with quick in and out movements, refusing to heavily engage with Pavlik. Martínez managed to cut Pavlik's left eyebrow in the first round. Pavlik then started to mount a comeback in the middle rounds by blocking Martínez's punches more effectively. Pavlik spent most of his time headhunting trying to land a hard right, which did help Pavlik get a knockdown in the seventh round. In the late rounds Martínez came back and started to open up Pavlik's cuts more, making his face extremely blood. In the post fight interview Pavlik said he couldn't see due to the blood. Martínez ended up winning the fight with a unanimous decision.
• April 24 – Mikkel Kessler upsets Carl Froch by a unanimous decision to win Froch's WBC super middleweight title. The fight was part of the second-group stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Following the fight, Froch complained about a judging bias, seeing how the fight was held in Kessler's country of origin, Denmark. This fight was later named the best super middleweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• April 30 – In a stunning upset, Fernando Montiel knocksout Hozumi Hasegawa ending his five-year, 10 title defense streak and taking his WBC bantamweight title. The knockout came as a surprise due to Hasegawa seeming to be clearly leading until the end of the fourth, when Montiel landed a left punch that stunned Hasegawa and pushed him back to the ropes, where he unloaded on him until the referee stopped the fight.
• May 1 – Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Shane Mosley to continue his undefeated career streak. Mosley came out strong for the first two rounds—at one point making Mayweather's knees buckle—but Mayweather went on to control the fight.
• May 8 – Making his comeback after roughly 15½ months of being suspended, Antonio Margarito defeated Roberto Garcia to win the vacant WBC international super welterweight title.
• May 15 – Amir Khan dominates Paul Malignaggi to win by TKO in the eleventh round to retain his WBA light welterweight title for the second time. This was Khan's debut in the United States.
• May 22 – In their fourth fight against each other Rafael Márquez evens the series to two wins for each man by stopping Israel Vázquez by TKO in the third round.
• June 5 – Miguel Cotto defeats Yuri Foreman by a ninth round stoppage due to a leg injury Foreman suffered during the fight. In an amazing display of will, Foreman refused to quit despite being in what he later called a "very sharp pain". A towel was thrown in the ring, but it was ruled to have come from an outside source, and the fight continued for another minute until being stopped officially. This was Cotto's debut at light middleweight. The fight was the first boxing match in the new Yankee stadium built in 2009, and the first match in either Yankee stadium since Ali/Norton 3 in 1976.
• July 31 – In a rematch of 2009's fight of the year, Juan Manuel Márquez defeats Juan Díaz for a second time to retain his WBO lightweight title and to win the WBA super world lightweight title.
• August 14 – Jean Pascal upsets Chad Dawson by a technical decision due to an accidental headbut that caused a major cut over Dawson's right eye and the fight was stopped by the ring side doctor. However Pascal easily won the fight according to the judge's scorecards. Pascal defended his WBC light heavyweight title for the third time, won Dawson's IBO light heavyweight title, and filled the vacant Ring magazine light heavyweight title.
• August 28 – Giovanni Segura upsets Iván Calderón by a knockout in the eighth round to win the WBO and WBA super world light flyweight titles. Segura ends Calderón's undefeated 34-fight winning record. This fight would later be named both the best light flyweight and overall fight of the year of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• September 11 – Yuriorkis Gamboa defeats Orlando Salido to unified the WBA world and vacant IBF featherweight titles. Gamboa was knocked down in the eighth round and was deducted two points in the twelfth round. While Salido was knocked down twice in the twelfth round.
• November 6 – Juan Manuel López defeats Rafael Márquez by TKO, in an exciting fight that was stopped early due to Márquez suffering a shoulder injury following the eighth round. López defends his WBO featherweight title and improves his record to 30–0. This fight is later named the best featherweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• November 13 – Manny Pacquiao destroys Antonio Margarito to the WBC super welterweight title, making Pacquiao the first and so far only boxer to win world titles in eight different weight classes. Following the fight, Margarito is sent to a hospital with a fractured orbital bone, which requires surgery. This was Margarito's first major fight in over 21 months, following a knockout loss to Shane Mosley in January 2009.
• November 20 – In a highly anticipated rematch, Sergio Gabriel Martínez knocks out Paul Williams in the second round to retain his WBC and Ring magazine middleweight titles. This fight was later named knockout of the year by Ring magazine.
• November 27 – Juan Manuel Márquez defeats Michael Katsidis by ninth round TKO. Katsidis was competitive throughout the fight and even scored a knockdown on Márquez in the third round. While Márquez fought a more solid fight, landing many combinations. Márquez defends his WBO, WBA, and Ring magazine lightweight titles. This fight is later named the best lightweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• December 11 – Amir Khan defeats Marcos Maidana in a relatively close decision. Khan came out strong in the early part of the fight, by applying heavy pressure on Maidana and getting a knockdown late in the first round. However in the later parts of the fight Khan spent much of his time avoiding Maidana trying to endure through rounds. At one point Maidana appeared to have almost finished Khan in the tenth round, when he landed a huge punch. However Khan absorbed the punishment and did enough in the early rounds to win by a unanimous decision. Khan defended his WBA world light welterweight title for the third time. This fight is later named the best light welterweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• December 11 – Abner Mares defeats Vic Darchinyan by a spit decision, to start Showtime's second boxing tournament based on the Super Six World Boxing Classic. However instead featured only four fighters, a single elimination format, and was focused on the bantamweight division at 118 lbs (54 kg) under the title, The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All. This fight was later named the best bantamweight fight of 2010 by Ring magazine.
• December 18 – After twelve rounds of boxing, Bernard Hopkins vs. Jean Pascal ends in a controversial majority draw.