Best Feel-Good Stories in Boxing from 2014

Even in a year like 2014, when mismatches were particularly outrageous and score cards too often egregious, boxing still has plenty of inspiring stories. The drama of the ring always allows some feel-good stories to emerge.

My selections have been influenced by my own experiences throughout the year. Still, these are stories that any serious boxing fan can feel good about.

Watching boxing can frustrate and even enrage a person at times. But the sport's ability to uplift us is what makes us return again and again.

6. I Am Ali

Few people in the 20th century were written about and discussed as much as Muhammad Ali. Ali carved out a legendary place for himself in the history of the sport. But his place in the history of American society might be even bigger.

So it is rare that any book, article or film about Ali really brings a new perspective to light. Fortunately, this year's release of I Am Ali does exactly that. Director Clare Lewins had unprecedented access to Ali's private family archives.

The portrait that emerges from this is intimate and engaging. Viewing Ali caught in so many unguarded moments allows for an even fuller picture to emerge of the charismatic star who connected with fans from across the entire globe.

It's always a feel-good story when a valuable new resource on such a critical figure emerges.

5. Derek Edwards Upsets Mayweather's Apple Cart

Everybody who follows boxing understands that the sport has social classes just like the larger society. There are "haves," "have-lesses" and complete "have-nots."

Young prospects signed to a promotional organization like Floyd Mayweather's Money Team are operating on the "have" end of the spectrum. Their opponents are carefully selected at every step of their developments.

Meanwhile, the "have-lesses" and the "have-nots" are left to take whatever fights they can get to remain active and earn a payday.

Last February, when Mayweather promoted a nationally televised card from Verona, New York's Turning Stone Casino, super middleweight Badou Jack was very much a "have" fighter. He was already being talked about as an opponent to face James DeGale for a vacant belt.

His opponent for the night, Derek Edwards, was just a warm body, brought in to catch some punches.

But Edwards had other ideas once the fight began. In the very first round, he slipped Jack's straight punch and crushed the undefeated prospect with a short right hand that turned the fight on its head.

As Edwards executed a celebratory back flip, his corner reveled in trash-talking the pound-for-pound king, who was sitting ringside to cheer on Jack.

In the post-fight press conference, Edwards revealed that he'd planned the slip-and-return gambit from the moment he first saw Jack on film. Edward's entire, small entourage was electrified at their fighter's quick, explosive victory.

Edward's trainer, Charles "Dew Drop" Young, was particularly animated. "You got your blue-collar fighters," he told me. "That's the guys like us. Mayweather and them are the white collar. So we had to let him hear us a little bit after we got his fighter out of there."

Shaking his head and smiling ear-to-ear, Dew Drop added, "It's always nice when the blue-collar guys come out on top. It's always nice."

Indeed, with boxing's lunch-bucket appeal, an upset by a blue-collar guy is always a feel-good story. There were other underdog stories like Edward's highlight-reel stoppage of Jack in 2014.

But Edward's big punch was one I got to see from press row, and it's one of the most feel-good stories I covered all year.

4. North American Heavyweight Title Fight on a Weekend Afternoon

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In some part of my end-of-the-year applause, I've wanted to mention ESPN's great decision to broadcast Bermane Stiverne's TKO stoppage of Chris Arreola on a weekend afternoon.

We are closer than we have been in years to meaningful, North American heavyweight fights taking place, and Stiverne's rematch with Arreola was a big step in that direction. By handling the tough Arreola with sudden and explosive violence in Round 6, the Las Vegas-based Stiverne returned at least a small portion of the heavyweight crown to this continent. 

The fight was on Mother's Day Weekend, so I was visiting family in New England. For a good chunk of this fight, my three-year-old nephew was sitting next to me on the couch.

He's still too young to understand the finer points of the Sweet Science, but the kid was delighted to see that there could be circumstances in which punching is allowed, over and over again, with nobody jumping in to shut the punching down.

Watching boxing with older fans in the family has always been how new fans get made. In recent years, there's been a nice upswing in afternoon boxing cards, and that's the kind of programming that can build up a younger fanbase more than 10 p.m. shows. 

Now if we could get a major fight on basic, network television, we could all feel good about how far back toward the mainstream the sport has moved.  

3. Vasyl Lomachenko Fights for the Ukraine

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One of the great tragedies of 2014 has been the eruption of open warfare in the Ukraine. I will not even attempt to explain the reasons behind this in a boxing article or assign blame to any of the global players turning that nation into a chess board.

I'll only point out the obvious, that when a country is turned into a battlefield, it makes life terrible for the regular people. And it also puts sporting events into perspective, as a kind of luxury.

But sports heroes have always provided a kind of distraction and unifying inspiration as well. Ukraine has long been famous for the great heavyweight champion brothers, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.

As life that got tougher this year, a young new star emerged from the country in the form of Vasyl Lomachenko. Already one of the greatest Olympic stars in history, Lomachenko has entered the professional ranks with an intensified focus, winning a world championship in just his third fight.

Lomachenko will enter 2015 as a potential star for fans across the entire sport. For his embattled nation, he's one small bright spot to look forward to.  

2. Bernard Hopkins Continues to Win Rounds from Father Time

Tim Larsen/Associated Press

Let's get one thing straight. Despite what a lot of lazy boxing pontificators might have been throwing out as a piece of verbiage after Sergey Kovalev beat Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision, Kovalev did not make Hopkins "look his age."

Hopkins was 49 the night he faced that monster Russian, "Krusher" Kovalev, last October. Hopkins was in the home stretch to 50, as his birthday is January 15. 

But even as he lost every round to Kovalev, he hardly looked like a man who is a half-century old. Hopkins lost without question, but after going down in the first round, he stayed on his feet, avoiding major punishment for the remainder of the fight. 

Hopkins' days as the top fighter in the division are clearly behind him, but he still might be the second best at 175. Don't be surprised if he fights, and schools, a contender this coming spring, when he will be 50. 

For a 44-year-old gym rat like me, that's about as "feel-good" as it gets. It's a rare thing when you can be my age and still watch a top-level athlete who debuted while you were in high school. 

Hopkins has become an outlier for the aging population of Gen Xers. As long as he keeps going, a part of us all remains young. 

1. Miguel Cotto Makes History and Returns to the Top

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Miguel Cotto has been one of the top boxing stars of his generation. No fight has sold more tickets at Madison Square Garden in this century. 

But after Cotto lost to Austin Trout in 2012, it seemed clear that he was officially on the downside of his career. 

So Cotto's June triumph over lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez was a stunning, return-of-the-king moment. In front of a partisan crowd in Madison Square Garden, Cotto executed a flawless game plan of tactical aggression.

It put Cotto in the record book as the first four-division world champion ever from Puerto Rico.

Cotto has delivered some classic fights over the years and has seemed to be a class act while doing it. It's a feel-good story to see this legend get an unexpected new chapter.