I know not everyone will agree with all the fights here, the order of them, and all that, but that's not really the point. I'm not trying to have some definitive list; I'm just saying these were my 20 favorites of the year.

Without further ado, Nos. 20 through 16.

20. Chris John v. Rocky Juarez
February 28, 2009 - Houston, Texas

Overshadowed by the main event that night, the HBO co-feature between long-standing featherweight titlist Chris John and Houston native Rocky Juarez more than holds up to repeated viewings. A tactical affair fought at a crisp pace, John-Juarez exceeded expectations and then some, and on a night with an average main event, may well have stood out more prominently in the minds of many. As it is, I feel it is somewhat overlooked now.

John vastly outlanded Juarez, whose all-too-familiar habit of keeping his powerful fists from moving may have cost him both this fight and the less-exciting September rematch. John was making his long-awaited debut in America, fighting on Juarez's home turf, and in most minds, deserved the victory. Instead, the end result was a draw -- and a draw that has only seemed worse in the months since, given the remainder of the year's feelings about Texas judging.

John made a fine splash on American soil with this fight, finally exposed to the HBO audience. Many of the doubts about his credentials were erased with this performance, as he proved for sure he can box, and that he had a bit more fight in him than many thought, too. For Juarez, it was another bitter pill to swallow in a career that has fallen a hair short on more than one occasion.

19. Miguel Cotto v. Manny Pacquiao
November 14, 2009 - Las Vegas, Nevada

The biggest fight of 2009 was also an entertaining bout, dominated in finality but not in total by the great Manny Pacquiao.

Neither man escaped unscathed. Cotto's face was bruised, swollen, bloodied and busted up. Pacquiao left with an ear that would fit an Olympic wrestler. The electric atmosphere in Vegas was unlike any other fight this year, and the 1.25 million buys the fight generated topped the charts for 2009.

Cotto took the opening round, and Pacquiao came back in the second. The third and fourth were both going Cotto's way until knockdowns turned the tide of the fight greatly. Cotto gamely tried to fight his way back into the contest, make it competitive, but by the later rounds he was being picked apart by the incredible Pacquiao, whose sharpshooting offense was proving too much for a battered, bewildered Cotto. Eventually, Cotto was so out of the fight you could see his gears turning, but his fists had been silenced.

Still, I've felt since the fight that Cotto's "running" was overstated by the blood-and-guts people. His running seemed like an attempt to find an opening to score a big shot, but Pacquiao was simply too good to let it happen. It was a last-ditch effort by Cotto. It wasn't the most exciting last-ditch effort, but that's what it was. Even in his reluctance to engage, he was trying to think his way back into it.

18. Adrian Diaconu v. Jean Pascal
June 19, 2009 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Romanian Diaconu and Haitian Pascal have both become quite popular fighters in Quebec, part of one of the sport's hottest spots for big, exciting fights, generally aided by arguably the best boxing crowds in the world today.

Diaconu came in holding the WBC light heavyweight title, which he'd won on an interim basis against Chris Henry in 2008. When Chad Dawson vacated the real title, Diaconu was promoted to full titlist status, something he'd been seeking since a 2007 fight with Dawson was canceled. Pascal was moving up from super middleweight, and in December of '08 had surprised some of his skeptics with a stirring performance in a fantastic fight against Carl Froch in England.

Diaconu-Pascal just made sense. It promised to be good action, and in Montreal, it would be a hit at the gate. It was both. Versus picked the fight up in the United States, paired with "Contender" cruiserweight winner Troy Ross as part of the TV series' deal to promote cards on the network, which wound up not amounting to a whole lot.

Like Froch, Diaconu lacked for speed against Pascal, but took the fight to the challenger. Diaconu hit the deck in the fifth round, but climbed to his feet and kept the action going for the full 12. Pascal won an unchallenged unanimous decision on scores of 115-112, 116-111 and 116-112 to leave with his first major title, and boldly announce his arrival in the light heavyweight division.

17. Carl Froch v. Jermain Taylor
April 25, 2009 - Mashantucket, Connecticut

This is one I assume many will have higher and perhaps as a true FotY contender, but it's just not quite there for me. Your mileage may vary and all that, but also keep in mind what I'm saying about every single one of these fights: "It was really damn good."

Froch's last fight had been on his home turf against Pascal, sadly off of American TV. Taylor had expired his HBO contract with a ho-hum snoozer against shot Jeff Lacy a month prior to Froch-Pascal, in November 2008. Showtime saw an opening. Taylor, the former middleweight champ, now campaigning at super middleweight, had gotten a win. A marketable, known fighter, he made for the perfect introduction to the United States for Froch, who agreed to come to Mashantucket, Connecticut to make this bout happen.

Taylor started strong. In fact, he was dominant for much of the fight, using his superior speed and athleticism to frustrate Froch, keeping the strong Englishman at bay and even knocking him down hard in the third round. For all the world, it looked as though "Bad Intentions" was really back in business, as he had but to suck it up and survive the 12th round to leave with Froch's title and put himself right back into the major fight mix. Two judges had Taylor up 106-102 entering the 12th, though somehow judge Jack Woodburn had Froch up by the same score. Woodburn got off easy, really. Had the fight gone the distance, he would have had a final score of 116-110 for Froch, and it would have raised a ton of eyebrows.

But it didn't got the distance. With Gus Johnson shrieking like a deranged cheerleader, Froch rallied, a stunning example of a man looking at his situation and saying, "Well, what have I got to lose?" Under massive pressure, Taylor went down in the corner, making it to his feet to attempt to finish the contest.

Froch, though, had other plans. He continued to wail away on Taylor, whose defense crumbled to Froch's massive assault, and when his head snapped back again with a mere 14 seconds remaining in the fight, referee Mike Ortega had no choice but to jump in, stopping the fight in Froch's favor.

16. Miguel Cotto v. Joshua Clottey
June 13, 2009 - New York, New York

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If you had laid out this proposal to everybody as a "what's going to happen?" before the fight, nobody would have turned it down:

• We pit two top five welterweights against each other
• It's a wild, entertaining and even rather dirty fight, but with tons of action and displays of what both guys are good at
• It's competitive and basically too close to call

Nobody would've said, "Nah, pass." There's nothing about that that doesn't sound good. But of course, I also recognize that it doesn't simply work that way, and that so many people felt Joshua Clottey deserved to win this fight. I think "robbery" is way too strong a word for this one, but yes, you can easily argue that Clottey's hand should have been raised. He wound up outlanding Cotto by a pretty substantial margin and showed that he is without question a top-flight welterweight fighter. He gave Miguel all he could handle and then he gave him a little more. I scored it 114-113 for Cotto and would have welcomed a rematch with totally open arms. It wasn't to be, although maybe it can happen in 2010. I hope this fight is soon remembered more for how good it was than anything else.

PHOTO CREDITS

John-Juarez: Getty Images

Cotto-Pacquiao: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Diaconu-Pascal: Interbox

Froch-Taylor: Nick Laham / Getty Images

Cotto-Clottey: Al Bello / Getty Images

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. could be in hot water after failing a post-fight drug test. (Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images)

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Top Rank cash cow Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has failed his post-fight drug test in Nevada from his November 14 win over Troy Rowland. Dan Rafael has the details:

Middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the son of the former three-division champion and Mexican icon, tested positive for a banned substance in conjunction with his Nov. 14 fight against Troy Rowland, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Executive director Keith Kizer said Saturday that Chavez, who tested positive for Furosemide, a diuretic, faces a fine and suspension.

...

The commission filed a formal complaint on Tuesday against Chavez. He has 20 days to respond, which will be followed by a hearing at a date to be determined. If Chavez does not respond to the complaint, the commission may reach a decision in his absence.

If the commission upholds the test result, which it usually does, the result of the fight would be changed to a no decision.

Furosemide (commonly known to most as Lasix) isn't a problem by itself, but it's banned because it is used as a masking agent for other drugs, which is most likely the case here.

Top Rank offered this statement:

"I think it was an innocent mistake, one that the Nevada commission will have to deal with, as well as Chavez," said Top Rank's Carl Moretti. "I don't think he knew diuretics were banned by the Nevada commission."

So, believe what you will, but chances are Chavez faces a suspension and the win over Rowland, already a painful memory for those who sat through it, will be changed to a no contest.

Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto both tested clean in pre- and post-fight drug tests in Nevada. Will this silence the skeptics? (Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images)

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For those that keep thinking Manny Pacquiao might be on performance-enhancing drugs, he's not. Neither is Miguel Cotto. Both tested clean in the post-fight drug test from their November 14 bout. From Sports Illustrated:

Pacquiao, who became the first boxer to win seven championships in as many weight classes, underwent urine tests twice -- before and after the fight -- and both came back negative, said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It's the the 10th time the Filipino has turned in clean tests in Nevada.

Immediately following his win over Cotto, fans inside the MGM Grand Arena pleaded for a megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who many have regarded as the top pound-for-pound fighter since his return in September. In response to the expected fanfare, Floyd Mayweather Sr. publicly accused Pacquiao of taking steroids.

...

Pacquiao has been bombarded with accusations of doping, having conquered seven weight divisions since entering the sport at 106 pounds when he was 16. And after Mayweather Sr.'s comments following the Nov. 14 bout, there has been speculation that if a megafight between Floyd Jr. and Pacquiao is agreed upon, Mayweather's camp may place stipulations in the fight contract that would require both fighters to take separate, mandatory drug tests in addition to the required tests by state athletic commissions.

I've been OK talking about public perception, with voices like Floyd Sr., Paulie Malignaggi, Kermit Cintron and Jeff Mayweather saying either they thought something was up, or that there are many feel as though there is and nobody is saying it because, well, they have no proof.

But now I'll just say what I really feel: None of those guys know how PEDs work, none of them have any proof whatsoever, and they've all been talking out of their hindquarters, either for attention or because they're just that foolish. It's a risky thing to start accusing anyone of doping, and particularly risky when Pacquiao is now at ten fights without a failed drug test in Nevada.

I even understand the thought coming into someone's head these days. With our current sports climate, acts of greatness are doubted in this way. It's going to happen. But this looks like an instance where we need to sit back and just all say, "Wow, we are witnessing something remarkable with Manny Pacquiao."

HBO has released the numbers, and the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight last Saturday generated 1.25 million buys on pay-per-view, beating out Mayweather-Marquez as the biggest boxing event of 2009. The fight generated $70 million in pay-per-view revenue to go along with its $8.84 million live gate.

The 1.25 million number equals what Pacquiao did a year ago against Oscar de la Hoya, though it doesn't quite reach the larger numbers that were being bandied about this week. Bob Arum said he thought it was looking like about 1.3 million, and he turned out to be correct. Usually, Bob is one of those going high, but I think this number more than pleases everyone involved.

Hatton-Pacquiao in May was a big success. Mayweather-Marquez was a phenomenal success. And this fight -- bigger than both -- is just more proof that if you put together fights and build guys right, boxing is far, far from dead.

I would have said six months ago that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight approaching the all-time PPV record set by Oscar and Floyd back in 2007 would have been impossible, but now I think there's a real chance there. Breaking two million buys is damn hard. In fact, Oscar-Floyd is the only fight that has ever done it, with Lewis-Tyson being No. 2 all-time at 1.99 million.

But I think Mayweather-Pacquiao can do it. I don't know if they will, but HBO has already said they'll be putting unheard of backing behind this must-see event should the parties work out a deal, and it seems to just about all of us that a deal not getting worked out is almost unthinkable. Way too much money to be made.

Boxing is on a nice little roll this year, and really has been the last few years or so. Slowly but surely, the mainstream media is starting to get over their "boxing is dead" obsession, and I'm hoping that a Floyd-Manny fight will be the last time I ever have to read articles from basketball writers titled, "The fight to get boxing off the ropes," or what have you.

Congratulations to HBO, Top Rank and of course, the fighters.

USA Today's J. Michael Falgoust reports that the November 14 fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao was a big live success in Las Vegas, blowing out the Mayweather-Marquez fight from September in money drawn at the gate and tickets sold.

The gate from last weekend's showdown between Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto— which will air on HBO Saturday (10 p.m. ET/PT) — was $8.84 million with 15,470 tickets sold.

That's 3,500 more tickets sold and $2 million more than what Mayweather's comeback from a near two-year layoff drew when he fought Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September on Mexican independence weekend.

Most interesting to me was this comparison, which probably highlights the difference in demographics between the crowds. Cotto-Pacquiao had the MGM filled with people who wanted to see the fight. Mayweather-Marquez had the MGM almost filled with people who came to see the big boxing show in Las Vegas.

No tickets were sold beneath face value for Pacquiao-Cotto. For Mayweather's bout, 94 tickets were sold at 50% discount and 895 were comps, or giveaways while just 46 comps were doled out for Pacquiao-Cotto.

And then there's PPV, which will have figures released later today. The Mayweather camp is already excusing themselves from the comparison by saying that Pacquiao "had a dance partner," apparently operating now under the idea that Juan Manuel Marquez is a bum with no fans, while selling us beforehand on Marquez's ability to draw in the Mexican audience as one of the reasons they chose to fight him in the first place.

They'll go back to pointing at their better numbers with Oscar and Hatton, not acknowledging the fact that Oscar and Hatton were both better "dance partners" when Floyd fought them than when Pacquiao fought them, and that Pacquiao also fought both in a recession. And they'll say, "I did a million homes with Marquez! But guess what! Guess what! But guess what! Guess what! He only did 400,000," except they probably won't even say 400,000, they'll say something lower than that, which might mean that Pacquiao-Marquez at 130 pounds in 2008 is about equal to Floyd's riveting fight with Carlos Baldomir in 2006. But hey, who's counting?

Floyd and Manny have become big stars in pretty much the exact same way. They were both noted as great fighters, but as draws, they were what they were. Manny was pretty good for his size -- again, nobody has ever sold more PPVs at that weight or lower than Pacquiao-Marquez II sold -- and Floyd just never quite got rolling.

Oscar de la Hoya made them both PPV forces. They took that momentum and ran with it. Floyd did it with his personality first, and his great skill second. Manny did it with his ferocious performances first, and a personality second, a personality that is something that I think American fans are just in love with at this point. The casual boxing fans out there barely recognized in a pre-MP world that there are Filipino boxers, let alone this force of nature.

If you want to be black and white about it, and make it really, really simple, then let's say it this way:

• Floyd outdrew Manny with Oscar, Hatton and Marquez;
• Manny's numbers with all three of them were excellent;
• Manny looks to have just smoked Floyd with guys who were similar-level stars.

Floyd will want to talk about the past, Manny will want to talk about right now, and they'll continue to bicker for a little while.

Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum will have plenty to celebrate with their latest PPV success. Early indicators have the fight between 1 and 1.5 million buys. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)

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Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that promoter Bob Arum is confident that the Saturday mega fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao may have done upwards of 1.5 million buys on pay-per-view, and that 1 million is almost a certainty.

Arum said he had "pretty much the final numbers" for Puerto Rico alone which he said "set a record" by surpassing the previous record of 80,000 for the Felix "Tito" Trinidad – Oscar De La Hoya fight. Arum said the Pacquiao-Cotto fight did a little bit more than 110,000.
 
Stating it was only a guess, Arum figured the fight would do around 1.3 million although he said there were no numbers from New York, Pennsylvania which are big points, adding that he didn’t even have any California numbers although he had the figures for San Diego and Hawaii "which were good numbers."

...

Arum recalled that the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight last December did 1.25 million and in the East "so far we are doing 40 percent better and in the West we are doing about 10 percent less."

The astute Top Rank promoter said "we are happy because we did well over a million homes and I think it will be closer to 1.5 million."

It's early, but it looks like this will probably wind up equaling or topping the Mayweather-Marquez show from September 19. Right now, Michael Marley of the Examiner has it at 1.6 million and counting, but that's just speculation like anything else right now, but another indicator that this fight is tracking amazingly well.

The last three fights of Manny Pacquiao's career have transformed him and turned him into not just one of the best fighters in the sport, but one of the two biggest as well. For years, Pacquiao was one of "our" fighters, an exciting, dynamic, can't-miss-him-fight sort of guy that translated to the hardcore audience. His size seemed a deterrent for him ever being a major star, and the fact that he isn't American or Mexican also seemed it might be a hindrance in the States, too.

But his performances in major money fights against Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto have not just been shockingly dominant, but they've introduced him to the casual audience, and that audience can't get enough of him. CompuBox looks at the numbers for Manny's last three bouts:

If you have trouble reading the numbers, a larger resolution version of the same chart can be seen here.

(Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

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Just a friendly reminder for those that may have missed it or want to catch the replay or TiVo/DVR/whatever the fight. HBO will be re-airing the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight on Saturday, available in HD. It was a performance to remember from Pacquiao for certain.

Manny Pacquiao's conditioning coach Alex Ariza says Pacquiao took it easy on Miguel Cotto last night. (Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank)

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Ronnie Nathanielsz reports today that there may have been a bit of mercy shown last night by Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, believes that's exactly what happened.

"What you saw tonight was mercy. I thought Manny could have finished him so many times but he just didn’t want to hit him anymore."

Ariza also criticized Cotto’s corner saying "his father should have stopped that fight. Shame on him for letting his pride possibly injure his son."

However, Ariza said Cotto "deserves a lot of credit. He showed up, he was in shape. No more excuses. I don’t think anybody can ever say anything about Manny. He fought the best 147 pounder out there and destroyed him."

Point-by-point? Sure, why not?

First of all, I think he's probably right overall here. In the latter stages of the fight particularly, Manny seemed like he wanted to quit beating up a man he had to chase around the ring. By that point the fight was 100% in his favor and he was laying into Cotto, who wanted nothing to do with him. I thought Manny showed mercy against Oscar, too. There were times he blatantly let Oscar get off the ropes when he could have continued beating the crap out of him. And I thought he showed a ton of mercy for Marco Antonio Barrera in their 2007 rematch, too.

As great a finisher as Manny is, I don't know that I'd say he has a truly killer instinct. He has a lot of respect for his opponents.

Second, Ariza was probably unaware of this when he said it and might learn of it now -- after all, why would he know? -- but Miguel Cotto Sr. was trying to get the fight stopped. The fighter wanted it to go on and the rest of the corner talked Sr. down a little bit.

And on the final point, Miguel Cotto is not and was not the best 147-pounder in the world. That is Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that's not a stab at Cotto or a knock on him. Cotto was without question one of the three best in the world at 147, but not the best. That's just not a true statement, and it feels cheap to try to make an incredible win out to be even more than it is. There is no reason to exaggerate.

Manny Pacquiao was clearly the better man tonight, but that doesn't need to mean that it's the last we see of Miguel Cotto. via Associated Press

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We're less than a couple hours removed from Manny Pacquiao's demolition of Miguel Cotto, and there are already calls for his retirement.  While he certainly took a lot of damage in this fight, Cotto still has many good options out there.  Retirement isn't out of the question, but it may not be ideal either.  Conventional wisdom would put Cotto smack in the middle of his prime, and he's still a world-class fighter.  Here are a few of my recommendations.

Take a little time off.  Not only to heal your wounds and your psyche, but to enjoy life for a little while.  You have a lovely wife and three beautiful children, and it's obvious that you all love each other very much.  Taking a little time away from boxing and spending some time with the family may help you get grounded, and figure out whether your heart is still in the sport.  If it is, there are plenty of directions you could go.

If you still want to compete at the top, then by all means, go for it.  You'll need to build back up your reputation anyway, and that should give you some time to recover.  A year from now, a Mosley rematch is still probably a great fight.  A Berto match is probably a great fight.  And even if it's unlikely that you'd beat Mayweather, it's also unlikely that you'd take too much sustained damage in that fight.

If you don't, that's fine as well.  Welterweight isn't the deepest division in the world, but Bob Arum has made a great living selling mismatches as smaller pay per views.  You would still be a heavy favorite over Kermit Cintron, which would be a big fight in Puerto Rico.  Same for Luis Collazo.  And people have to be kidding themselves if they think the next tier of welterweights, the Selcuk Aydins and the Isaac Hlatswayos of the world, would even have a chance of beating you.  You can probably make a solid living facing these guys for the next few years, and build up enough of a bankroll to not only pay for your own retirement, but for your children's retirement.

However, whichever direction you decide to take, one thing is clear: Joe Santiago should not be your head trainer.  There were many reports that in camp, you were essentially training yourself, and it was clear that Joe just didn't know how to help you make adjustments during the big fight.  This doesn't mean you need to dump your loyal friend; rather, keep him as your second man, someone you trust, and find an established and knowledgeable trainer who's able to guide you and help you make adjustments.  Not only will it help you as a fighter, but it will help your career, preventing you from taking prolonged punishment like you did tonight.

Cotto's never been someone to back down from a challenge.  That tendency scares me a little bit, but he can still take on some challenges.  And even if he doesn't, it's not the end of the world.  Many great fighters have made a very good living taking the safe fights.  Considering Cotto's legacy up to this point, I don't think anyone can fault him if he decides to take that route from this point forward.