The conversation about boxing when the year began centered mostly on the sport's demise.
Mixed martial arts was stealing young fight fans by the thousands, major promoters weren't negotiating with each other, big-time bouts were too few and far between, and rising stars were obscured on undercards.
Now, as the boxing year nears its close with a Dec. 8 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton welterweight title fight in Las Vegas that sold out in 30 minutes, the sport has been reinvigorated by a barrage of major events, unique promotions and dramatic action.
"As they've said about Broadway for many years: It's a marvelous invalid," veteran HBO Sports boxing commentator Larry Merchant said.
Southland boxing promoter Dan Goossen said the year's success resulted from a significant change in thinking among promoters, who too often had cautiously attempted to protect their high-profile fighters from losses.
"We got very comfortable in maximizing profits with the least amount of risk," Goossen said. "Those days are gone.
"I don't know if it was all about the pressure we were under from mixed martial arts for the consumers' dollars, but we realized from MMA that the fans are there for you if you give them the fights they want to see; if you give them their money's worth."
No fight underscored that point more than the May 5 welterweight title fight between Oscar De La Hoya, the sport's most powerful pay-per-view draw, and unbeaten Mayweather, the man considered by most as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions brought back the concept of a national barnstorming publicity tour, visiting 13 U.S. cities, and HBO jumped on the popularity of reality television by introducing a four-part reality series hyping the fight called "24/7." The series followed the final-season episodes of "The Sopranos" and became a ratings hit.
The show "lit a fuse, it scooped up average sports fans that had wandered from boxing and lured them back in," HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg said. "A lot of women and young people wanted to see De La Hoya-Mayweather after we gave them a reason to come back to the sport. That series accomplished much more than ratings, and as it proved the lives of boxers preparing for a big fight is entertaining TV, it gave people a reason to get involved."
