By David Sauvage

Jermain Taylor undoing Bernard Hopkins. Ricky Hatton demolishing Kostya Tszyu. The rise of Miguel Cotto, Jeff Lacy, Zab Judah. For those who follow boxing, the last twelve months were a collection of beautiful stories about deserving young fighters who overcame their hype and rose to their occasions.

The trouble is, nobody follows boxing anymore.

Not to say the public was oblivious. Several items did manage to penetrate the closed system the networks, promoters and sanctioning bodies have selfishly set up for themselves. If there’s any metric for evaluating boxing as a cultural force, that’s got to be it.

5. THE DEATH OF LEAVANDER JOHNSON

Some accused referee Tony Weeks of jumping in too late. Others blamed the rules, which allowed the fight to continue after it was clear Johnson had lost. The rest sat back and said, That’s boxing for you.

None of these answers was any good, because none of them spoke to the tragedy. They’re what the public was offered by way of excuse. Now there’s another reason to dismiss boxing as barbarism.

4. “CINDERELLA MAN”

I’m screenwriter myself; I understand the need to fictionalize history for the purpose of storytelling. But I can’t stand the fact that Ron Howard reduced the inimitably Jewish heavyweight champion Max Baer to a murderous WASP.

That said, the success of Cinderella Man, coming on the heels of Million Dollar Baby, might have done something to legitimize boxing in the eyes of less discerning moviegoers. Especially if it wins the Academy Award it doesn’t deserve.

3. “THE CONTENDER”

It could have been worse. Boxing could have gotten a sitcom. Instead it’s a reality show from the same producer who thought up Survivor and the Apprentice. As if the sport needed a second artificial world through which to view the first.

The Contender wasn’t a hit, but it wasn’t a flop either. It got people talking about boxing who would otherwise be talking about American Idol. There were inane challenges with homoerotic undertones, but there were also honest displays of blood and guts.

All in all, let’s be grateful.

2. THE RIDICULOUS HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION

The heavyweight division isn’t a division anymore. It’s a farce.

James Toney, after whipping John Ruiz, tested positive for a performance enhancing drug he swears did not enhance his performance. Vitali Klitschko, after beating a series of nobodies to assert his dominance, retired a few days before his chance to prove it.

Now we have four titlists nobody has heard of, almost all have beaten guys nobody has heard of. Where there should be a tournament, they’re scheduled to file lawsuits against their promoters through 2007.

Sports fans everywhere are asking, “Is Mike Tyson going to fight again?” Because anyone would rather see a has-been get knocked out than pretenders standing around in their prime.

1. JOSE LUIS CASTILLO AND DIEGO CORRALES

The rematch was a disaster. Top Rank packaged it like a WWF special. Castillo and company cheated at the scales. Corrales griped about the outcome, then claimed he wasn’t griping.

But the awful machinery of boxing couldn’t take anything away from the singular beauty of Castillo-Corrales I.

They matched each other moment for moment. They pushed through, faltered, and pushed through again. They risked everything in the hope the other wouldn’t risk any more.

Then they gave us the most astonishing round in the history of boxing.

Something happened that doesn’t happen anymore. Sports fans asked other sports fans whether they had seen it. Hearns and Leonard were reincarnated in the popular consciousness as two anonymous lightweights, fighting their hearts out.

I hope it sticks.

My other hope is that Russell Crowe and Sergio Mora generated enough attention to overshadow everything else. Boxing is already the most thrilling of sports. Wouldn’t it be great if it were popular too?