Now that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was.  Here's the final poll, for fighter of the decade. I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up.

Ivan Calderon - Calderon went 33-0-1 in the decade, winning titles in two weight classes and going 17-0-1 in title fights.  Bad Left Hook readers voted him the best fighter of two different weight classes this decade.  Key wins include a pair of wins over Hugo Cazares, Nelson Dieppa, Juan Esquer, Isaac Bustos, Daiel Reyes, Roberto Leyva, Edgar Cardenas, Alex Sanchez, and Eduardo Ray Marquez.  While he never ended up facing several of the other major names in his weight classes, he did go 10-0-1 against former, current and future titlists during the decade.

Joe Calzaghe - Calzaghe went 19-0 in the decade, all in title fights, winning the Ring Championship in two weight classes.  Key victories include Bernard Hopkins, Mikkel Kessler, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, Byron Mitchell, Charles Brewer, Richie Woodhall, and a very, very old version of Roy Jones Jr.  For the first half of the decade, it appeared that he avoided challenges, but near the end, he went on to unify with Lacy and Kessler, taking all four super middleweight belts (although not at the same time due to sanctioning body politics), and then moved up to closely beat Hopkins at light heavyweight.

Miguel Cotto  - Cotto went 34-2 during the decade, winning belts in two different weight classes and going 14-2 in title fights.  While his record isn't spotless, he took all comers, facing fighters who were ranked in the Ring top 10 in 14 of his last 16 fights, and going 12-2 against past, future and current titlists.  Key wins include Shane Mosley, Joshua Clottey, Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah, Carlos Quintana, Ricardo Torres, Randall Bailey, DeMarcus Corley, Lovemore N'Dou and Muhammad Abdullaev.  The losses came to Antonio Margarito in a fight shrouded by controversy, and to Manny Pacquiao, then the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world.

Bernard Hopkins - Despite the 2000's being Hopkins' third decade in the professional ring, he managed to go 14-3, owning the Ring title in two different weight classes and becoming the undisputed middleweight champion.  Key wins include Felix Trinidad, Oscar de la Hoya, Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik, Winky Wright, William Joppy, Keith Holmes and Carl Daniels.  All three losses were close, with Jermain Taylor controversially beating Hopkins twice to claim the middleweight championship, and with Joe Calzaghe taking a close win over Hopkins at light heavyweight.

Juan Manuel Marquez - Marquez went 20-3-1 in the decade, claiming belts in three different weight classes and spending much of the decade near the top of the pound for pound lists.  Key victories include Juan Diaz, Joel Casamayor, Marco Antonio Barrera, Rocky Juarez, Derrick Gainer, Robbie Peden, Orlando Salido and Manuel Medina.  However, what has created much of his legacy were his bouts with Manny Pacquiao, where he officially went 0-1-1, but in which many thought he deserved the nod in one or both of the fights.  In addition, he suffered a close loss at the hands of Chris John, as well as a blowout loss to Floyd Mayweather in a fight that was two weight classes higher than where Marquez had ever fought before.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. - Mayweather went 18-0 in the decade, owning a title in five different weight classes and being lineal champion in three. Key victories include Jose Luis Castillo (twice), Diego Corrales, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez, DeMarcus Corley and Arturo Gatti.  If there's a criticism of Mayweather, it's that he hasn't faced the top competition in recent weight classes, although he's helping to quell that criticism with a forthcoming fight against Shane Mosley.

Manny Pacquiao - Pacquiao went 23-1-2 in the decade, owning a title in six different weight classes and being lineal champion in three of them.  Key victories include Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Erik Morales (twice), Marco Antonio Barrera (twice), Lehlohnolo Ledabwa, Oscar de la Hoya, Oscar Larios and David Diaz.  The loss came to Erik Morales (who he later beat twice) and the draws came against Marquez (who he later beat) and Agapito Sanchez.  While he's been as great of a weight jumper as we've seen in recent times, the two primary criticisms of him are that he's never really cleared out a single weight class, and that many of his best wins came over fighters who were past prime.

Others deserving of a shout out for one reason or another: Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Roy Jones Jr., Chad Dawson, Vic Darchinyan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Kostya Tszyu, Oscar de la Hoya, Arturo Gatti, Micky Ward, Wladimir Klitschko, Tomasz Adamek, David Haye, Jose Luis Castillo, Winky Wright, Fernando Montiel, Antonio Margarito, Jermain Taylor, Israel Vazquez, Rafael Marquez

Now that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was.  Only one more poll for fighter of the decade after this one. Over the course of a decade, you get a ton of great fights, but here are a few that really stood out. Only 9 fit on the poll, and I went with fights that have Youtube reels, so if your favorite isn't on here, I apologize.

I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up in about a week.

Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera I (February 19, 2000)

Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti I (May 18, 2002)

Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko (June 21, 2003)

Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao I (March 19, 2005)

Chico Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo I (May 7, 2005)

Somsak Sithchatchawal vs. Mahyar Monshipour (March 18, 2006)

Michael Katsidis vs. Graham Earl (February 17, 2007)

Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III (March 1, 2008)

Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz (February 28, 2009)

Others for consideration (in no particular order): Felix Trinidad vs. Fernando Vargas, Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez II, Jean Marc Mormeck vs. O'Neill Bell I, Jorge Arce vs. Hussein Hussein I, Bernard Dunne vs. Ricardo Cordoba, Sergei Lyakhovich vs. Lamon Brewster, James Toney vs. Vassiliy Jirov, Israel Vazquez vs. Jhonny Gonzalez, Jamie Moore vs. Matthew Macklin, Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Torres, Acelino Freitas vs. Jorge Barrios, Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward III, Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales III, Micky Ward vs. Emmanuel Burton (Augustus), Tomasz Adamek vs. Paul Briggs, Kelly Pavlik vs. Jermain Taylor I, Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley, Michael Katsidis vs. Czar Amonsot, Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez I, Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez II, Carl Froch vs. Jean Pascal, Erik Morales vs. In Jin Chi

Now that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was.  We still have fighter and fight of the decade left to go.  Apologies about the delay since the last one.  Even round of the year tends to have a lot of disagreement, so I suspect the voting will be about as spread out on this one as any other poll we've done.

Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera I, Round 5.  Ring Magazine fight of the year, and a back and forth round between two fighters who legitimately hated each other.  Embedding was disabled on this one, but check the link above.

Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti I, Round 9.  Speaks for itself.

Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales III (Round 11).

Chico Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo I, Round 10.  This was the "mouthpiece" round.  Castillo was battering Corrales from pillar to post, knocking down Corrales twice, when he came from behind with a miraculous TKO in the last minute.  

Jamie Moore vs. Matthew Macklin, Round 9.  Probably the best British round of the decade.  Just a ton of back and forth action between two warriors who left it all in the ring this round.

Israel Vasquez vs. Rafael Marquez II, Round 3.  At the risk of splitting up votes, there are actually two completely classic rounds between these two warriors, plus another that was named Ring Magazine round of the year that is in the honorable mentions. 

Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III, Round 12.  Vazquez and Marquez had fought toe to toe and very even for 11 solid rounds.  The winner of the fight was clearly going to be the winner of the round, and Vazquez was the one who was able to dig down deeper to put an emphatic exclamation point on that year's fight of the year.

Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz, Round 8.  There are a number of rounds in this fight that could have been round of the year.  This round wasn't as action packed as some of the prior rounds, but it was where the tide really turned in this battle, and more importantly, it's the clip that HBO posted to Youtube.

Honorable mentions: Bernard Hopkins vs. Felix Trinidad (Round 10); Popo Freitas vs. Jorge Barrios (Round 11); Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III (Round 4); Michael Katsidis vs. Graham Earl (Round 2); Sakio Bika vs. Jaidon Codrington (Round 1); Kendall Holt vs. Ricardo Torres II (Round 1); Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto (Round 3), Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez (Round 1)

Feel free to name any other great ones in the comments, and if you provide links, I'll add them up here as well.  There are tons of them, and there's just no way I could have gotten all of them.

Now that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was.  We still have fighter, fight and round of the decade left to go. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up in a couple weeks.  Due to ballot stuffing patterns, the Manny Pacquiao fight isn't in the poll, but votes will be counted in the comments.

Videos and nominees after the jump, below the poll

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Now that 2009 has wrapped up, we can take a look at the best of the decade that just was.  This is the last of the individual weight classes, and we'll also do fighter, fight and knockout of the decade. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up in a couple weeks.  

Welterweight was quite possibly the strongest weight class throughout the decade, and thus it has been saved for last.  Not only was the weight class strong, but the top fighters mostly fought each other, meaning that few were able to come out completely unscathed. 

Carlos Baldomir - Baldomir went 8-2-2 in the weight class in the decade, including a stint when he was the lineal champion after surprisingly defeating Zab Judah.  Although his record was pedestrian, he ran off an eight year long undefeated streak, although some of it was at 154 and some of it was in the 1990's.  Key wins included Judah, Arturo Gatti, Miki Rodriguez, Alpaslan Aguzum (twice) and Hasan Al.  The losses came to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a drubbing and Jackson Bonsu, and the draws came against Jose Luis Cruz and Hasan Al.

Miguel Cotto - Cotto went 7-2 at 147 during the decade, with each fight being a title bout and seven of the fights coming against current, past or future titlists.  His key wins include Shane Mosley, Joshua Clottey, Zab Judah, Carlos Quintana and Oktay Urkal.  The losses came to Antonio Margarito (in a fight that is still shrouded by questions about whether Margarito cheated), and a much more clear loss to Manny Pacquiao. 

Vernon Forrest - Forrest went 4-2 at the weight in the decade, but early on, he seemed like quite the person to overcome.  Most famously, he holds back to back victories over Shane Mosley, and then subsequently lost twice in a row to Ricardo Mayorga.  The other two wins came against Vince Phillips and Raul Frank. 

Antonio Margarito - Margarito went 14-2 in the weight class in the decade.  On paper, his record is as good as anyone's at this time - his best wins came over Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Kermit Cintron (twice), Sergio Martinez, Golden Johnson, Sebastian Lujan, Hercules Kyvelos, Antonio Diaz, Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis and Frankie Randall, and his only two losses came to Shane Mosley and Paul Williams, who are also on this list.  That said, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there are questions as to the level at which Margarito cheated through the decade.  Before his last fight (against Mosley), he was caught with illegal hand wraps that contained "elements of plaster."  We'll never really know how often he used this type of wrap, or whether the wraps actually had any real effect.  Still, his wins are shrouded by uncertainty.  If he can come back, we may have a better idea of whether his wins were for real or if his power came from cheating as much as from his fists.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. - Mayweather has gone 5-0 in the weight class, with each of his victories being dominant, but none of his victories coming over the real cream of the crop in the weight class.  His best wins came against lineal champion Carlos Baldomir, former lineal champion Zab Judah, light welterweight champ Ricky Hatton, #2 pound for pound fighter Juan Manuel Marquez and former titlist Sharmba Mitchell.  As impressive as this sounds, there are huge holes that can be poked through this resume - Baldomir was clearly a more rudimentary fighter who hasn't done well since fighting Mayweather.  Judah was coming off a loss and has lost twice since the Mayweather fight.  Hatton was fighting at a weight where he'd already looked poor in the past.  Marquez was a natural 130 pound fighter forced to blow up for the fight.  Baldomir is the only natural welterweight that Mayweather has faced.  Still, the dominant nature of his victories ensures that he has a spot here, and that he'll probably pick up quite a few votes.

Shane Mosley - Sugar Shane went 9-3 in the decade at the weight, although several of his more prominent fights came at 154 or were outside of the decade.  Key victories include a controversial win over Oscar de la Hoya (the rematch was at 154), Antonio Margarito, Luis Collazo, Antonio Diaz, Jose Luis Cruz, David Estrada and Shannan Taylor.  The losses came to Vernon Forrest (twice) and Miguel Cotto.  Mosley also admitted to using EPO before the de la Hoya fight. 

Manny Pacquiao - Pacman only went 2-0 in the weight class, but his place on this list comes on the strength of a single victory.  Miguel Cotto had only lost once previously while facing the best competition out there, and that loss came under questionable circumstances in a fight Cotto would have won had it gone to the cards.  Pacquiao left no doubt, battering and beating Cotto after four closer rounds.  His other win came over a weight-drained Oscar de la Hoya, who hadn't been at a weight that low in nearly a decade.  While it was a remarkable accomplishment at the time (Pacquaio was still a heavy underdog), it doesn't seem quite as impressive in retrospect, as Oscar clearly didn't look like he was all there for the fight.  I will count votes for Pacquiao in the comments, although he is not in the poll.  If you wish to vote for Pacquiao, put his name in the heading of your comment.

Cory Spinks - Spinks went 9-2 in the weight class, unified three of the belts and created a lineage in the weight class.  His best wins came over Ricardo Mayorga, Zab Judah, Miki Gonzalez, Michele Piccirillo and Larry Marks.  His losses came to two fighters he also beat, Judah and Piccirillo. 

Paul Williams - Williams went 7-1 at the weight, with his notable wins coming over Antonio Margarito, Carlos Quintana and Sharmba Mitchell.  The loss came to Carlos Quintana, which he avenged.  While his actual record isn't that spectacular, he might have been a stylistic nightmare for almost anyone on the list, with an absurd 81 inch reach in a weight class where most guys have a reach in the high 60's or low 70's. 

Others for consideration: Ricardo Mayorga, Zab Judah, Andre Berto, Joshua Clottey, Luis Collazo, Carlos Quintana

Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over.  Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade.  I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.  Because of the ballot stuffing patterns, voting will be done in the comments rather than by a poll for this one.

There's a pretty solid argument that super bantamweight may have been one of the strongest divisions of the aughts, if not the strongest weight class of the decade.  Several sure-fire hall of famers fought at least a few times in the weight class, and no less than five fighters graced the pound for pound top 10 at some point while in the weight class.  In addition, many of the elite fighters in the weight class actually fought each other, losing some and winning some, making it difficult to pick a single standout from the weight class.

Celestino Caballero - Caballero has gone 26-2 in the weight class.  As freakish as it is, at 5'11", he's actually spent almost the entirety of the decade at the weight, and managed to unify titles and enter many top 10 pound for pound lists.  His key victories include 6 current, former and future titlists, including Steve Molitor, Lorenzo Parra, Mauricio Pastrana, Somsak Sithchatchawal, Yober Ortega, and Daniel Ponce de Leon, as well as other good wins over Ricardo Castillo, Jeffrey Mathebula, Jorge Lacierva, Jose Valbuena and Giovanni Andrade.  The losses came to Ricardo Cordoba and Jose Rojas.

Joan Guzman - Back when Guzman was at 122, he actually somewhat lived up to his "Little Tyson" moniker.  Guzman went 6-0 in the weight class in the early part of the decade, capturing a belt with a victory over Fernando Beltran Jr.  He also holds a dominant knockout win over Agapito Sanchez, as well as victories over Edel Ruiz, Hector Julio Avila, Armando Guerrero and Fabio Daniel Oliva.

Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym - Poonsawat has gone 16-0 in the weight class, including picking up a title from Bernard Dunne.  Other key victories include Somsak Sithchatchawal, Carlos Lopez and Rafael Hernandez.

Oscar Larios - Larios went 14-2 in the decade at the weight, being one of the elite fighters in the weight class in the early half of the decade, and went 10-1 in title fights.  Key wins include Israel Vazquez, Willie Jorrin, Nedal Hussein, Wayne McCullough (twice), Cesar Soto and Kozo Ishii.  Both of his losses came to elite fighters who he also beat at one point or another, with the losses coming to Israel Vazquez and Willie Jorrin.

Juan Manuel Lopez - Lopez has gone 21-0 in the weight class in the decade, including six victories in title fights.  Key wins include Daniel Ponce de Leon, Gerry Penalosa, Jonathan Oquendo, Cesar Figueroa, Olivier Lontchi and Rogers Mtagwa.  All but two of his wins came by way of knockout.

Manny Pacquiao - Pacman spent the earliest part of the decade at the weight, going 8-0-1 and becoming the lineal titlist in the weight with his win over Lehlohono Ledabwa.  Other key wins include Nedal Hussein, Emmaneul Lucero, Jorge Julio and Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym.  The lone draw came in a hard fought bout with Agapito Sanchez.

Israel Vazquez - Vazquez went 14-2 in the decade in the weight class, and finished his time there ranked in the top 5 of most pound for pound best lists.  Most memorably, he holds two wins over Rafael Marquez in what was likely the most thrilling trilogy in the history of boxing.  Additionally, he made eight defenses of his title, with other wins over Oscar Larios (making him lineal champion), Jhonny Gonzalez, Ivan Hernandez, Armando Guerrero and Jose Luis Valbuena.

Others for consideration: Rafael Marquez (only fights at the weight were the trilogy against Vazquez, in which he went 1-2), Marco Antonio Barrera (no notable wins in four fights in the decade), Erik Morales (1-0 in the decade, with the win over Barrera), Lehlohono Ledabwa, Mahyar Monshipour, Steve Molitor, Fernando Beltran Jr., Somsak Sithchatchawal, Ricardo Cordoba, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jhonny Gonzalez, Toshiaki Nishioka, Willie Jorrin

PLEASE VOTE IN THE COMMENTS.  THE INCLUSION OF PACQUIAO HERE MEANS THAT THERE WILL BE NO POLL, BUT I WILL STILL TALLY UP THE WINNER BY WHOEVER HAS THE MOST VOTES IN THE SUBJECT LINES OF THE COMMENTS.

Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over.  Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade.  I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

In the 00's, the 130 pound weight class was mostly a transition division.  Lots of the top fighters of the decade passed through the division at one point or another, but very few top fighters stayed there for an extended period of time.  Most of the guys who did stick around in the weight class are actually in the other options for consideration - there are probably about 20 guys at least marginally worth a mention in this weight class, but the poll only holds 10 spots.

Marco Antonio Barrera - The Baby Faced Assassin went only 5-2 at the weight, but all of them were title fights, and he unified belts at one point during his reign.  He also fought only the highest level of competition at the weight.  His wins came against Erik Morales, Robbie Peden, Rocky Juarez (twice) and Mzonke Fana.  His two losses came near the tail end of his career, when a clearly faded Barrera lost to Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Diego Corrales - Chico went 6-2 at the weight in the decade, including three title defenses. His best wins include Angel Manfredy, Derrick Gainer, Joel Casamayor and Justin Juuko.  His losses came to Floyd Mayweather and Joel Casamayor.

Acelino Freitas - "Popo" went 9-0 at the weight, most of them title defenses, during the decade before moving up and also capturing a title at lightweight.  He also unified titles and became lineal champion for a while.  Brazil's best boxer of the last 20 years, Popo's best wins came over Joel Casamayor, Jorge Barrios, Daniel Attah, Javier Jauregui and Barry Jones.  All but two of the victories came by way of knockout.

Juan Manuel Marquez - Marquez only had three fights in the weight class, but two of them were dominant wins against Marco Antonio Barrera and Rocky Juarez, and the third was a split decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in a fight that many felt Marquez won.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. - Mayweather only spent two years at the weight during the decade, and many of his better wins in the weight class came in the '90's, but he's here because many think he was the greatest 130 pounder of all time, and because he does own a couple of very good wins at the weight.  Pretty Boy went 4-0 in the weight in the decade, including decisive victories over Chico Corrales, Carlos Hernandez and Jesus Chavez.

Erik Morales - Morales went 6-3 in the weight class, although the fights were almost exclusively against top competition, and the losses came after he was well faded.  The best win of this period (and in retrospect, possible the best win of his career) came against Manny Pacquiao, Pacquiao's only loss this decade.  Other key wins include Jesus Chavez, Carlos "El Famoso" Hernandez, Guty Espadas Jr. and Rodney Jones.  The losses came to Pacquiao (twice) and Marco Antonio Barrera.

Manny Pacquiao - Pacman went 7-1 at the weight, and during the course of his time at the weight, ascended up the pound for pound charts.  He went 2-1 against Erik Morales and also earned wins over Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis and Hector Velasquez.  The biggest of his wins, however, was a highly contested decision over fellow pound for pound entrant Juan Manuel Marquez that many felt Pacquiao lost.

Others for consideration: Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez, Humberto Soto, Sirimongkol Singwancha, Joel Casamayor, Jorge Barrios, Joan Guzman, Rocky Juarez, Robbie Peden, Nate Campbell, Mzonke Fana, Malcolm Klassen

Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over.  Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade.  I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes. 

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade.  Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

The heavyweight division, for the most part, was dominated by a few guys, but there still may be some contention as to who is the best.  Lennox Lewis ruled the early part of the decade, but only fought for a few years and appeared to be past his best for the most part.  Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko, but there's an argument that Vitali was green at the time.  Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have owned most of the remainder of the decade (excluding a few years when Vitali was temporarily retired), but the two brothers made a promise never to fight each other, and so it will probably always be unsettled as to which brother is really better. 

Vitali Klitschko - Vitali went 10-2 in the weight class, and spent a short time as the lineal champion after Lennox Lewis retired.  While his roster of wins isn't super impressive, he's generally fought ranked competition in the weight class and has generally beaten them convincingly.  His best wins include Cris Arreola, Samuel Peter, Corrie Sanders, Danny Williams, Kirk Johnson, Larry Donald and Timo Hoffmann.  Both losses were somewhat questionable.  One was to Lennox Lewis in the fight described below, where the fight was stopped on cuts over Vitali's objections, and the other was to Chris Byrd in a fight that Vitali was winning handily, but he injured his shoulder and quit rather than risking further injury. 

Wladimir Klitschko - Wladimir has gone 22-2 over the course of the decade, unifying three of the belts and becoming Ring champion.  Much like his brother, the names on Wladimir's resume don't necessarily look spectacular, but nearly everyone he's fought (other than immediately after losses or early in the decade) has either been a mandatory or someone who was ranked in the division's top 10 at the time.  Key victories include Chris Byrd (twice), Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, Danell Nicholson, Jameel McCline, Ray Mercer, Franz Botha, Monte Barrett and faded Hasim Rahman.  The losses came to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster (in a fight where Wladimir gassed and won the rematch easily).  While Wlad's losses are far worse than the losses suffered by the other two here, there's also a solid argument that Wladimir was somewhat green at the time of the losses, and has improved considerably since those defeats. 

Lennox Lewis - Lewis went 6-1 in the early part of the decade, all of the fights being for the lineal championship and multiple belts.  His best win was a somewhat controversial stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko, where Vitali was ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage, but was extremely busted up, and the tide of the fight seemed to be turning in Lennox's favor.  Other good wins include Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Michael Grant (who at the time was thought to be the next big thing), Franz Botha and a severely faded Mike Tyson.  The loss came to Rahman, which Lewis avenged shortly thereafter.

Others for possible consideration: Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, John Ruiz, Nicolai Valuev, Hasim Rahman, Samuel Peter