Well fight fans, with only a few fights to go before the big guy in the funny suit comes to town, [ No, im not talking about Don King] I thought I would go through the year that was, and relive in my head, the highlights of the year.

We as fight fans, had it all this year. Huge upsets, Super fights, Retirements, Rematches, Comebacks, and more importantly, great ,great fights.

The year got off to a great start in January, with Arturro Gatti winning on points against Gianluca Branco, and down under, Anthony Mundine fighting aging japanese boxer, Yoshinori Nishizawa in a fight which saw the trash talking Aussie decked, before finally finding his range and stopping the Japanese fighter in the 5th round by TKO.

Also Australias busiest, [ possibly the worlds busiest boxer] fighter, middleweight, Sam Soliman, fought Juan Carlos Lettiera, and showed his power with a KO in the first round.

February saw Australia's Lovemore N'dou step up on short notice, to take on slick southpaw, Sharmba Mitchell . N'dou, fought a great fight and showed he had what it takes to challenge the best in the super lightweight division. At super middleweight, The Welsh Dragon, Joe Calzaghe, took on the tough russian, Mger Mkrtchian, and stopped him in 7 rounds. Across the Atlantic, saw Super Featherweight star, Eric Morales go the distance with legendary boxer Jesus Chavez, in a tremendous battle of Latinos. Puerto Rico's latest 140lb superstar, Miguel Cotto, continues his quest for the world title with a convincing win by 4th round TKO decision over Victoriano Sosa. February also went down in the history books as the month ,heavyweight power puncher, Lennox Lewis retired.

March gave us the first big pay per view fight, with future Hall of Famers, "Sugar" Shane Mosley, and Ronald " Winky "Wright, battling it out over 12 rounds, which saw Mosley out boxed for the first time in his career, and losing his title by unanimous decision. From the heat of Vegas, to the cold of Scotland, W.B.O. Featherweight hardman, Scott Harrison showed why he is one of the best at the weight by destroying , Walter Estrada by knocking him senceless in 5 rounds.

Across in Germany, Super middleweight king, Sven Ottke, again goes the distance, with Armand Krajnc, then calls it a day in the ring in front of his adoring fans.

Back down under, Sam Soliman stops Jorge Sclarandi, with an 8th round TKO. Also on the same night, Light heavyweight puncher Paul Briggs had to take some of his own medicine , in a tough fight against Jesus Ruiz, before winning the fight on points. Lovemore N'dou continued his rise as a serious challenger with a KO in 4 against Kiatchai 13 Riantower, while Danny Green almost cooked himself in his fight with the tough and rugged, New Zealand boxer, Sean Sullivan. Green was seriously dehydrated during and after the fight. A fight in which he won by points, over 10 rounds.

April saw Dr Ironfist, Vitali KlitshKO, batter World champion, Corey Sanders into submission in the 8th round, and showed us the power he has in his big robotic arms. Trash talking Los Angelene, boxer James Toney was back and told everyone he would conquer the heavyweight division. In Manchester, England, Ricky Hatton beat up the small , Dennis Pederson in 6 rounds in his first fight of the year, and told the media he was sick of fighting these guys, and that he only wanted the best in the division.

In Australia, Sam Soliman was at it again, this time against, a boxer known as Moechrody. Soliman made short work of the boxer with a short name. TKO in 3. Lovemore Ndou beat Ariel Aparico in 3 with a KO and charged on.

May treated us to candidate for fight of the year. The fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez was a cracker. Marquez was steamrolled 3 times in the first round and miraculously, he managed to pick himself up and came back to totally outbox Pacquiao, and comeback strongly on the scorecards with a draw, against the wildman from the Phillipines.

Floyd Mayweather moved up to the talented 140 division and made his first outing against world champion, and former sparring partner of KOstya Tszyu, De Marcus Corley. Mayweather showed he could take the punches and hurt the guys at 140." Pretty boy" decked Corley twice before winning on points.

Miguel Cotto fought out a tough 12 round contest with Lovemore N'dou, and showed his class at super lightweight, and the contest also showed the world that N'dou will fight anyone , even on short notice.

Sam Soliman beat Plaisakda Singwancha by TKO in the 3rd round, and Sydney's, Jason De Lisle beat Justin Clements at lightheavyweight, in the first round .

The big fight down under was Anthony Mundine's challenge for the wba Super middleweight championship of the world. The only thing in his way was Puerto Rican, Manny Siaca. Mundine's confidence outside the ring is legendary, but that night, he left it there, and let Siaca to tee off on him, to win easy. [ although it was scored a win to Siaca by split decision.] June was quiet on the Aussie front, but overseas gave us controvesy, and one of the biggest upsets in boxing in many a year.

Marco Antonio Barrera put on a superb boxing display against Pauly Ayala, with a TKO in the 10th round. Also in Las Vegas, Middleweight king, Bernard Hopkins, had to beat Robert Allen convincingly to ensure his spot in a multi million dollar mega fight with the "Golden Boy" he carried his side of the bargain by winning in 12 rounds. The fight showed us that Hopkins was holding back and trying not to show us or De la Hoya, too much of his hand. On the same card,

Oscar De la Hoya had to beat the well schooled German, Felix Sturm, to show the boxing world that he could yet again step up in weight and challenge and beat "The Executioner" Things didnt go as planned, and the soft, and under trained De la Hoya made hard work of what was supposed to be a tune up fight. The" Golden Boy" won by a unanimous decision. To be fare, Sturm could have beat him, but he didnt do enough. These two wins set up the "History fight " for many millions of dollars for both men.

Now,this fight. I remember watching this fight in disbelief. The fight was Roy Jones Jnr against Antonio Tarver. The fight started with Jones winning the first round easy, and I thought to myself, here we go again. The second round was more of the same, that was until Tarver decided to throw a bomb which landed flush on the side of Roy's head. Boom! he was gone. It reminded me of the Buster Douglas fight, when Tyson was trying to get up. unbelievable.

July was a quiet month with the highlight being Sam Soliman going to America and fighting and winning in his rematch with Raymond Joval for the No 1 contender for Bernard Hopkins IBF title. Soliman won on points.

Another highlight was Eric Morales's brawl with eL Salvador's Carlos "Famosa" Hernandez. These two men exchanged punches for 12 rounds and in reality, Morales could have beat him easy if he chose to box, but the Mexican wanted to fight "Macho" and rumble with the bull from El salvador. What a fight.

August saw Hatton charge on with another win , this time on points against Carlos Vilches. Hatton was clearly frustrated in the post fight interview and he admitted he was less than motivated.

Another Englishman who in the past , was under motivated was Danny Williams. Williams was matched with the former "baddest man on the planet" "Iron Mike" Tyson. Williams and trainer, Jim Mc Donnell locked themselves away and trained like never before. Tyson also trained harder than he has under the strict regeme of Freddie Roach, and come fight night you could see there was still some of the old Tyson left. Williams came into the fight as a massive underdog, and also an under achieving unknown. Boy did he prove everyone wrong. Tyson battered him with clean and brutal body and head punches, but Danny took them all. It was a war, until Tyson hurt his Knee and from there , he slowed down. Williams pushed him around and hit Tyson with 20 unanswered punches with Tyson throwing 1 huge haymaker before being KO'd in the 4th round. What a fight, what a win.

Paul Briggs and Stipe Drews also gave us another war in Sydney, Australia. Briggs showed tremendous composure and heart, in a dirty fight by Stipes. Briggs won the battle after taking Stipe's educated jabs, and uneducated head butts, and knees to the balls. Points win to the "Hurricane"

Diego Corrales showed his punching power by stopping Brazilian legend Acelino Freitas in their lightweight fight in the 10 th round.

September highlight was The Superfight between Hopkins and De la Hoya in Vegas for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world. De la Hoya fought the best fight he could but was simply not big or strong enough at the weight. Hopkins waited and waited before landing the finishing blow to "The Golden Boys" ribs. At ringside, you could actually hear the noise from De la Hoyas mouth when he got hit.

Miguel Cotto beat the big punching KO artist, Kelson Pinto in an entertaining fight, and proved Cotto could bang with the best of them, by finishing Pinto off in the 6th round. Australias Danny Green and Anthony Mundine also returned to the ring with wins over Omar Eduardo in round 5, and Sean Sullivan in round 10 respectively.

October started with Ricky Hatton brutally knocking out Micheal Stewart in 5 one sided rounds, and then across in New York, Puerto Rico's , the legend, Felix"Tito" Trinidad came back to fight again, against the dangerous lunatic, Ricardo Mayorga. Trinidad came out of retirement and punched Mayorga into retirement with a fantastic performance of boxing at its very best. Fight of the year.

Australias Jason Delisle challenged Clinton Woods for the No1 position at lightheavy and put in the performance of his career, but lost on a disputed stoppage from the referee. TKO in the 12th round to Woods. Mundine notched up another win in his comeback to challenge for a world title.

November was a month of comebacks, and also a rematch. Russian born Aussie KOstya Tszyu, was on his first comeback fight since injuring himself some 20 months previously. Tszyu was matched with Sharmba Mitchell and many thought the "Thunder from down under" was risking defeat at the hands of the slick southpaw, Mitchell. Tszyu trained intensly, and was in the best shape in years. Once in the ring, Mitchell never had a chance. Tszyu destroyed him with the famed straight right that has made him millions over the years. Tzyu by big TKO.

Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales completed a classic trilogy and gave us a war that was a contender for Fight of the Year - Barrera got the decision at the end of a close battle.

Evander Holyfield was coming back from his recent loss and his comeback fight was against Larry Donald, in a heavyweight championship tournament promoted by Don King. Holyfield had nothing left to give and was beaten by a limited boxer, and this marked the end of an era in the heavyweight division. [I hope]

This month also gave us the rematch with Mosley and Wright in Las Vegas. Mosley fought well and tried his heart out, but Winky showed him too many jabs, to win the fight by majority decision.

December gave us the fight with Vitali KlitschKO and Danny Williams.
Williams was extremely confident in doing a number on the massive russian, and convinced me and the whole of Britain also. From the first 30 seconds , I knew he didnt have a chance. Iwas looking for pockets in his trunks as I was convinced they were full of rocks. When boxers get nervous , things happen.
Although I havent spoken to Danny, I will ask him what happened. It was possibly the strangest fight I have ever watched. KlitshKO threw punches that should have been blocked or avoided. He also threw them slow and lethargic, but obviously he has unbelievable power in them. No doubt about it though. he battered the 270 lb british charge into retirement.

Manny Pacquiao beat Fahsan [3 k battery] Thawatchai in the Phillipines by TKO in the 4th, and cemented his rematch with Marquez in 2005.

Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton won impressively - Cotto over big punching champion , Randall Bailey, with a TKO in the 6th round. Bailey didnt want to know after being battered to the body in the 2nd. Hatton has certainly made a huge statement in his challenge to KOstya Tszyu's title, by becoming the first man to stop and totally bash Ray Oliviera up in their fight. 10 th round KO. Hatton said he will go anywhere to fight Tszyu. Next week we have the unification fight with Roy Jones conquerers, Antonio Tarver, and Glen coffe Johnson.

What a year, that was.

Here are my picks of the year

Boxer of the year: Felix Trinidad.

Best prospect: Miguel Angel Cotto.

Favourite fight: Mayorga vs Trinidad.

Favourite KO: Rafeal Marquez. over Ruiz. [right uppercut hook]

Shock of the year: Antonio Tarver, KOing Roy Jones Jnr.

Biggest beating of the year: Danny Williams twice, once giving one and once recieving one.

Most hyped fight: Hopkins vs De la Hoya.

Busiest fighter: Sam Soliman

Favourite commentator: Ian Darke. sky tv uk. and Jim watt.

Best comeback in an actual fight: Juan Manual Marquez. down three times and badly knocked down the third time. he picked himself up and fought brilliantly to draw with Pacquao.

Best quote from a cornerman: "Cmon, Danny, your children are watching this at home" [ Danny williams corner] Favourite interview: Roberto Duran.

Favourite quote: Roberto Duran, " [laughing] " I could have beat Hearns [Tommy] but my coach said I drank too much Coca Cola." [laughing]

All the best for Christmas and look forward to the fights in 2005.