The Five Best Boxing Fights Of The Decade

The Aughts were good for the pugilistic community. Despite the rise in popularity of mixed martial arts, boxing maintained its dominance as the premier fighting sport in the world thanks to great fights over the last ten years. Check out the best of them:

#5 Rafael Marquez Vs. Israel Vasquez I (March 3, 2007)

We'll kick off our list with the first fight of the Marquez Vs. Vasquez trilogy. Both fighters came at each other with punishing blows (who knew that such little men could pack such powerful punches?). In the end, Marquez was too much for his rival, who threw in the towel at the end of the seventh round. If you listen closely to the footage, you can hear him say "ya no puedo"("I can't any more"). Check it out:

#4 Micky Ward Vs. Arturo Gatti I (May 18, 2002)

Micky Ward defeating Arturo Gatti with a split decision in the first of their three encounters. The match at one point was called the fight of the century, but we disagree because neither of the boxers were truly great. Still, we'll concede that the ninth round was so amazingly punchtastic, it merits the number four spot:

#3 Rafael Marquez Vs. Israel Vasquez II (August 4, 2007)

We were fortunate enough to attend Marquez Vs. Vasquez II, which was held in our hometown of Hidalgo, Texas. Man, this fight was such "balls to the wall" insanity that every person in that arena lost their voices screaming. Marquez tried his best to defend his title, but the relentless Vasquez was too much for him. A barrage of blows by Vasquez forced the ref to end the fight in the middle of the sixth round:

#2 Erik Morales Vs. Marco Antonio Barrera I (February 19, 2000)

"El Terrible" Morales faced off against "Baby-Faced Assassin" Barrera in the first match of one of the best fight trilogies ever. Both Mexican boxers pummeled each other as if they hated each other (which they did). In the end, Morales emerged victorious after a controversial split decision and won the WBC Super Bantamweight title. Check out the 5th round, where the fighters threw punches freely as if they were dollar bills at a strip club:

#1 Diego Corrales Vs. Jose Luis Castillo I (May 7, 2005)

Unlike other entrants on this list, Corrales and Castillo only faced off twice. Not only was this the best fight of the last ten years, but the 10th round had so many "holy shit" moments that we'll go ahead and call it the best round of the decade, as well. Seriously, we can't think of another fight where we thought a boxer was done for, only to have him come back and knock his opponent out.