HBO Names "Best of 2010" Fights for December Replays

HBO's yearly boxing "best of" will air December 27 through December 30. Here's the full lineup and when we put "midnight" for December 27, technically it means midnight on December 28, but, well, technically schmechnically.

December 27, Midnight EST
Floyd Mayweather Jr. v. Shane Mosley (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: C-

Mayweather-Mosley is about three rounds of drama followed by nine rounds of Mayweather displaying his superiority against the old Mosley. As a live fight, I was OK with this one, because it gave us that great moment in the second round, and because watching Floyd do what only Floyd can do is pretty great live. But if you've seen it once or a few times when it was fresh, you don't need to see it again. If you missed it but you've seen other Floyd dominations, make sure there's absolutely nothing better you could be doing before you make this a midnight viewing. After three, it's very "been there, done that," even allowing for Floyd being quite impressive.

December 28, 11pm EST
Kelly Pavlik v. Sergio Martinez (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: B+

I think this fight is one of the underrated bouts of 2010. It's not a true FotY candidate, but I think it's roughly on par with Froch-Kessler. Pavlik had a great little comeback in the middle rounds, but Martinez just re-adjusted and was able to out-hustle and out-box the champ. Really good tactical fight, though I admit I'm a bigger fan of tactical fights than some are. The style clash was interesting, and Pavlik was about as good as you could have expected from him, especially today knowing some of what he's been dealing with the past couple of years. And it was also the fight that got Martinez "over the hump," so to speak.

December 28, Midnight EST
Sergio Martinez v. Paul Williams II (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: A

Do you like knockouts?

December 28 (29), 12:20am EST
Yuri Foreman v. Miguel Cotto (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: B-

Foreman's gutsy performance was admirable, and the Yankee Stadium thing gave it something different, but it's not much of a fight as far as the pure fight goes. It was a live fight, and not a great one at that. But if you're interested to see how Cotto looked in his last fight, if you missed it, here it is. The fact that Foreman is one-legged for a good portion of the fight means you can't learn all that much, though. But Yuri showed a ton of heart, and that makes it kind of special.

December 29, Midnight EST
Juan Manuel Marquez v. Michael Katsidis (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: A-

It wasn't QUITE the amazing fight it could have been, but it was still an excellent fight. Marquez is sheer brilliance throughout, and once again shows that nobody gets up from a good knockdown quite like Juan Manuel Marquez. Katsidis left everything he had in the ring fighting in honor of his late brother Stathi, but just wasn't good enough to overcome the still-great JMM.

December 30, 11pm EST
Manny Pacquiao v. Antonio Margarito (Bad Left Hook Recap)

Rewatchability Grade: B

It's extremely one-sided, but an entertaining one-sided, and you should never pass on Pacquiao.