Top 10 Boxing Disappointments of 2011: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Co.

2011 was definitely one of the worst years of the past decade in terms of disappointments for boxing fans. Once again, the boxing world had an incredible amount of controversial fights. Many fans now consider boxing as a completely corrupt sport.

Meanwhile, other boxers didn't live up to their expectations. Among them are some of the best fighters in the world—Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather and Chad Dawson.

Let's have a quick look at the top ten disappointments of 2011, one of the most controversial years of boxing history.

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10. Chad Dawson

Chad Dawson was once considered as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. However, the WBC committee made sure that it wasn’t the case in 2011. It was definitely a disappointing year for Chad Dawson.

After his loss to Jean Pascal in 2010, Dawson was promised a rematch in 2011. He fought Adrian Diaconu and defeated him easily to get his revenge fight. However, WBC ordered a rematch between Pascal and Hopkins, and "Bad Chad" never had a chance to fight Pascal again.

A few months later, in November, Dawson finally met Hopkins in the ring. After dominating the first two rounds, the fight ended brutally with Hopkins hurting his shoulder. Dawson was declared the winner. However, the awesome comedic talent of Hopkins convinced the WBC committee to give him back the belt.

Starting 2012, Chad Dawson isn’t a champion anymore and has been screwed by the WBC twice. Don’t you think that it was a disappointing year for him?

9. Roy Jones Jr

Roy Jones Jr won his last fight of the year against a below-average fighter, Max Alexander. However, earlier in 2011, Jones lost in a brutal way by knockout in the tenth round for his third consecutive loss.

You just have to feel sorry for a man who was once the best fighter of his time. He doesn’t seem to be able to let it go, and I am scared for his health. When he enters the ring, it’s always a disappointment, because you can only wish that he had retired at his prime, a few years ago.

He isn’t the same boxer anymore, and fans expect much more than he can give.

At 42 years old, Jones fought twice at over 190 pounds this year, which is 20 more pounds than in 2010. He gets hit quite often in every fight, and he is not the same boxer he once was.

For 2012, we can only hope that he finally retires.

8. Jean Pascal

Jean Pascal was the WBC light heavyweight title holder at the beginning of the year. He will begin 2012 as a contender.

In his lone fight of 2011, Pascal was unable to dominate a Bernard Hopkins that seemed in better shape at 46 than he was at 30.

Pascal was supposed to fight later in 2011, but all the plans were cancelled.

It has certainly been a disappointing year for the former champion after ending 2010 in a difficult way with a draw against the same Bernard Hopkins.

After easily defeating Chad Dawson, the expectations were high for Jean Pascal, but he wasn’t able to live up to them.

7. Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather wants to be recognized as the greatest. He wants to be remembered. Well, he will be remembered for 2011, but not for the right reasons.

In 2011, Mayweather had a single fight. He won with a controversial punch against Victor Ortiz. Yes, the punch was legal, but once his career is over, this isn’t the kind of victory you want as a highlight from one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers.

Even more, Mayweather made the news for being sentenced to jail for 30 days. He also supposedly wagered $1 million against Tim Tebow in the NFL.

Finally, the fight against Manny Pacquiao still hasn’t happened.

Definitely, it’s a disappointing year for "Money May." The only bright side of this year was the way he responded to Larry Merchant after his victory over Ortiz.

6. Andre Dirrell

Andre Dirrell was one of the young boxing sensations with high expectations when he turned professional in 2005 after his trip to the Olympics.

However, 2011 was kind of a quiet year for the 28-year-old boxer. His only fight was on December 30 versus Darryl Cunningham. He won by knockout, and that was about it for his year.

Actually, Dirrell only had two rounds of boxing in the past 21 months and has barely been present in 2011, which is disappointing for any fan.

The reason behind his absence is a neurological problem which leads to pain and headaches.  

Nevertheless, not seeing Dirrell more on the ring in 2011 was a huge loss for boxing fans. He is an exciting boxer to watch. We wish him a fast recovery.

5. Lucian Bute

Lucian Bute turned 31 in 2011. In less than two months, he will be 32. The Canadian boxer has a pretty impressive record with 30 wins in as many fights.

In 2011, he went 3-0, but it was still a big disappointment for boxing fans. Bute is the IBF super-middleweight title-holder since 2007. He has then successfully defeated nine challengers.

However, Bute’s team kept sending him in the ring against mediocre opposition. He started the year by facing Brian Magee, a 36-year-old boxer who didn’t fight in America in over 10 years. Magee had faced below-average opposition and lost every important fight in his career.

Bute then followed that by facing a 38-year-old Jean Paul Mendy, a boxer who won his only significant win by disqualification.

Bute ended the year by facing 43-year-old Glen Johnson, a fighter who went 19-15-2 since 1997 and has a 17-15-2 record against boxers with a .500 or better record.

In conclusion, Bute fought fighters with an average age of 39-years-old in 2011. He went 3-0 against old and unproven fighters. When will he fight elite fighters such as Carl Froch, Tavoris Cloud, Andre Ward or Andre Dirrell? His team says that those fights will come in 2012. Isn’t it about time?

Heck, I can hardly find a picture of him on Getty Images. Isn't it a sign that he is an unknown champion? I believe that the Canadian boxing fans have been cheated enough!

4. Bernard Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal to become the oldest champion in boxing history at 46 years old.

The year started in an awesome fashion. However, things got ugly a few months later.

Hopkins fell awkwardly on the canvas after Dawson pushed him. His reaction just seemed as a big act of comedy. He clearly overreacted and almost started to cry in the ring. Sure, Hopkins could have been hurt, but how many fighters fought with injuries? Plenty of them.

Hopkins was easily handled by Dawson in the early rounds. It just seems like he found a way to escape from this obligatory fight and take advantage of it.

For any boxing fan, it was an ugly fight and, at the same time, a disappointment.

3. David Lemieux

David Lemieux was supposed to be the next Mike Tyson. Before 2011, Lemieux went 25-0 with 24 knockouts. Only four opponents had ever reached Round 3 against him.

Most boxing analysts were expecting a magnificent career for the 23-year-old sensation. However, he was a terrible disappointment in 2011.

He started the year by fighting Marco Antonio Rubio and lost by TKO in the seventh round. A few months later, he decided to quit his long-time trainer, Russ Amber, to join Mark Ramsay, the coach of former-champion Jean Pascal.

However, Lemieux followed with an even bigger disappointment. He lost a decision to 35-year-old Joachim Alcine. Alcine had only two wins in his past five fights and was a major disappointment for the past three years or so.

No one saw this loss coming, but Lemieux faced a major setback in 2011. He is still young and has terrific power, but you have to wonder if he will ever have what it takes psychologically to become a champion.

2. Amir Khan

Amir Khan was challenging anyone and everyone. He wanted to get in the ring with Floyd Mayweather and even Manny Pacquiao.

By now, Khan should know that you need to shut your mouth when you can't live up to the expectations.

Back in 2008, Khan was surprised by Breidis Prescott and lost by knockout in the first round. A few years later, he has been surprised again.

Khan started the year with two impressive wins against Paul McCloskey and lefty Zab Judah. However, on December 12, he couldn’t handle Lamont Peterson and lost a split decision. Khan looked scared in the ring and never seemed in control of that fight.

Surprisingly, it took an eternity before the scoring cards were announced at the end of the fight.

Were they trying to find a way to save the next cash-cow of HBO? Sorry, Khan now has two defeats in 28 fights and doesn’t deserve to be included in the best pound-for-pound talk.

1. Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao had two fights in 2011. He easily defeated Shane Mosley by unanimous decision, but he failed to impress anyone against Juan Manuel Marquez. Actually, many people thought that Marquez was robbed again.

Manny Pacquiao is described as a legend and an unbeatable man, but he’s not. He was clearly defeated by Marquez on November 11, and millions of people witnessed it live on HBO.

According to RingTV, there were twelve boxing writers at ringside on fight night. Exactly half of them had a scorecard in favor of Marquez. The other half had it as draw. No one gave the win to "Pac-Man."

Definitely, it was a disappointing year for Pacquiao, even if he went undefeated. He was supposed to be stronger, faster and more experienced in comparison to his first two fights versus Marquez. Everyone expected him to win easily, and the odds were favoring him at a line set around -1200.

Pacquiao ended up struggling most of the evening and couldn’t send Marquez down. Manny Pacquiao is no longer a living legend; he is beatable.