Boxing in the 2000s

=Lists of notable fights by year=

2000

*February 19 Erik Morales defeats Marco Antonio Barrera to unify the WBO and WBC super bantamweight belts.
*June 17 Sugar Shane Mosley defeats Oscar de la Hoya by split decision for the WBC welterweight title.
*December 2 Felix Trinidad defeats Fernando Vargas to unify the WBA and IBF light middleweight titles. Trinidad was knocked down early in the first round to come back and defeat Vargas.

2001

*January 20 Floyd Mayweather Jr. dominates Diego Corrales to successfully defend his WBC Super Featherweight Title. Corrales was knocked down five times, before his corner threw the towel in the tenth round.
*March 24 Oscar de la Hoya wins decisively against Arturo Gatti by knockout in five in a non-title match. de la Hoya was criticized later for taking the fight .
*April 7 After a fourteen minute introduction, Naseem Hamed loses to Marco Antonio Barrera by unanimous decision. Barrera, then known as a brawler, surprisingly out-boxed Hamed, who later retired after his next bout.
*April 22 Lennox Lewis gets knocked out by Hasim Rahman in South Africa and loses the heavyweight title. Rahman landed a perfect right hand and knocked Lewis out cold.
*May 12 Felix Trinidad defeats William Joppy, by technical knockout in 5, to take the WBA middleweight title
*September 29 In a career defining performance, Bernard Hopkins defeats Felix Trinidad by technical knockout in 12, to successfully unify the WBA, WBC, and IBF titles to become the Undisputed Middleweight Champion.
*November 3 Kostya Tszyu becomes the undisputed champion of the Light Welterweight division as he defeats Zab Judah by a dramatic second round knockout in Las Vegas, Nevada.
*November 17 Lennox Lewis recaptures the heavyweight title as he defeats Hasim Rahman by fourth round knockout.

2002

*January 26 Vernon Forrest upsets Shane Mosley by unanimous decision, to capture the WBC Welterweight title.
*May 18 Micky Ward defeats Arturo Gatti in a very competitive non-title light welterweight bout. After getting knocked down in the ninth round Gatti came back and traded power punches with Ward. The fight was later named the 2002 Ring Magazine fight of the year
*May 20 Floyd Mayweather Jr. moves to lightweight and wins by controversial unanimous decision against José Luis Castillo to take the WBC Lightweight title.
*June 1 Evander Holyfield defeats Hasim Rahman by technical decision in eight rounds. A welt the size of a golf ball formed on Rahman's head leading the referee to stop the fight.
*June 8 Lennox Lewis defeats Mike Tyson by eighth round knockout. The fight is overshadowed by its prefight melee, in which Tyson rushed Lewis and started a brawl.
*June 22 In their rematch, Marco Antonio Barrera defeats Erik Morales by unanimous decision to take the WBC featherweight title.
*July 20 Vernon Forrest defeats Shane Mosley in their rematch by unanimous decision, in Indianapolis, Indiana to defend the WBC Welterweight title.
*September 14 Oscar de la Hoya defeats Fernando Vargas to unify the WBC and WBA light middleweight belts.
*December 7 Floyd Mayweather Jr. defends his WBC lightweight title as he defeats José Luis Castillo in their rematch.

2003

*January 25 Ricardo Mayorga knocks out Vernon Forrest by 3rd round knockout, to unify the WBC and WBA Welterweight titles.
*July 12 Ricardo Mayorga successfully defends his WBA and WBC welterweight belts as he defeats Vernon Forrest by controversial majority decision.
*September 13 Shane Mosley defeats Oscar de la Hoya in their rematch to unify the WBC and WBA light middleweight title belts.
*November 8 Roy Jones Jr. defeats Antonio Tarver by controversial majority decision to recapture the light heavyweight title. Many thought this was Jones's first real challenge in his career.
*November 15 Manny Pacquiao upsets Marco Antonio Barrera by eleventh round technical knockout.
*December 13 Cory Spinks becomes the Undisputed Welterweight Champion after he defeats Ricardo Mayorga by majority decision.

2004

*March 13 Winky Wright becomes the Undisputed Light Middleweight Champion after defeating Shane Mosley by unanimous decision.
*April 10 Cory Spinks defends his undisputed welterweight title as he defeats Zab Judah by unanimous decision.
*May 15 Antonio Tarver upsets Roy Jones Jr knocking him out in the second round to take the WBC,WBA, and WBO light heavyweight title.
*June 21 Lennox Lewis defends his title as he defeats Vitali Klitschko by technical knockout in 6, due to a Kiltschko cut in his left eye. Klitschko was up on all of the scorecards and had the momentum at the time of the stoppage.
*September 18 Bernard Hopkins adds the WBO title to his undisputed middleweight status as he defeats Oscar de la Hoya by a bodyshot knockout in the ninth round.
*September 25 Roy Jones Jr gets knocked out for the second consecutive fight as he loses to Glen Johnson for the IBF light heavyweight title.
*November 20 Winky Wright beats Shane Mosley in their rematch, to defend the light middleweight title.

2005

*February 5 Zab Judah knocks out Cory Spinks in 9 rounds, in Spinks's hometown St. Louis, Missouri as he becomes the new Undisputed Welterweight Champion. Spinks had a dramatic ring entrance with rapper Nelly before the fight started.
*May 7 Diego Corrales defeats José Luis Castillo by 10th round knockout, for the WBO-WBC lightweight title unification. Both men were exchanging a brutal amount of punishment throughout the fight, before a dramatic tenth round in which Corrales scored a TKO after getting knocked down twice. It won Fight of the Year for 2006.
*June 4 Ricky Hatton defeats Ring Magazine champion and universally acknowledged #1 Light-Welterweight Kostya Tszyu by 11th round TKO for the IBF Light-Welterweight title. After a highly physical battle, Tszyu was unable to come out for the twelfth round.
*June 25 Floyd Mayweather Jr. utterly defeats Arturo Gatti by six round technical knockout, to capture the WBC Light Welterweight title.
*July 16 Bernard Hopkins loses by a split decision against Jermain Taylor who becomes the new Undisputed Middleweight Champion of the World.
*December 3 Jermain Taylor retains the middleweight title as he defeats Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision to retain his Middleweight title.

2006

*January 7 Carlos Baldomir upsets Zab Judah to win the WBC welterweight title, as well as being the recognized welterweight champion, as Judah was the undisputed champion at the time of the bout.
*January 7 On the undercard of the Baldomir/Judah bout, O'Neil Bell becomes the second Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion, as he defeats Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck by knockout in the 10th.
*March 3 Joe Calzaghe defeats Jeff Lacy by a lopsided unanimous decision for the IBF-WBO super middleweight unification.
*April 1 Sergei Liakhovich wins the WBO world heavyweight title from Lamon Brewster by unanimous decision.
*April 8 Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Zab Judah by unanimous decision to win the IBF welterweight title. A mini-riot ensued as Roger Mayweather, Floyd's uncle and trainer, runs into the ring retaliating to a low blow and rabbit punch by Judah. The fight resumed as Mayweather won by unanimous decision.
*April 22 Wladimir Klitschko wins the IBF world heavyweight title from Chris Byrd by TKO in round 7.
*May 6 Oscar de la Hoya returns from a 20-month break and defeats Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC super welterweight title.
*May 20 Marco Antonio Barrera defeats Rocky Juarez by split decision. Juarez was very competitive throughout the fight breaking Barrera's nose in the early rounds. The fight was originally announced as a draw until it was later revealed that there were two scorecard tabilation errors.
*June 10 Bernard Hopkins defeats Antonio Tarver by unanimous to take the light heavyweight world championship.
*June 17 - Winky Wright and Jermain Taylor fight ends in a draw for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world in Memphis, Tennessee
*July 27 Carlos Baldomir defends his welterweight title as he defeats Arturo Gatti by ninth round knockout.
*August 5 Edwin Valero wins the WBA super featherweight title by defeating Vicente Mosquera by 10 round TKO in Mosquera's home country, of Panama.
*August 12 Oleg Maskaev knocks out Hasim Rahman in the 12th round to win the WBC Heavyweight title.
*September 16 Marco Antonio Barrera defeats Rocky Juarez in the rematch and successfully defends his WBC super featherweight title.
*October 14 Mikkel Kessler unifies the WBC and WBA Super middleweight titles after knocking out Markus Beyer in three rounds.
*November 4 Floyd Mayweather Jr. becomes the WBC and linear Welterweight champion after he defeats Carlos Baldomir by unanimous decision.
*November 11 Wladimir Klitschko defends his IBF heavyweight title by defeating American contender Calvin Brock winning by a stunning knockout in the seventh round.
*November 18 Manny Pacquiao wins by technical knockout in his third and rubber match against Erik Morales

2007

* January 6 Sam Peter defeats James Toney by unanimous decision, in the rematch. Peter becomes the #1 challenger for WBC Heavyweight champion, Oleg Maskaev.
* January 20 Nicolay Valuev successfully defends his WBA Heavyweight title by defeating Jameel McCline, by technical knockout after McCline blows out his knee.
* February 3 Chad Dawson becomes the WBC Light Heavyweight champion after defeating Tomasz Adamek by unanimous decision. Despite being knocked down from a straight right hand on round ten, Dawson dominates most of the fight with his speed.
* February 10 Shane Mosley becomes the WBC Welterweight champion by defeating Luis Collazo by unanimous decision.
* March 3 Rafael Marquez moves up in weight class and defeats Ring Magazine and WBC Super Bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez by 7th round technical knockout. Vazquez did not answer the bell after badly breaking his nose, having trouble breathing in the later rounds.
* March 10 Wladimir Klitschko successfully defends his IBF Heavyweight title after defeating Ray Austin by 2nd round knockout.
* March 17 Juan Manuel Marquez defeats Marco Antonio Barrera by unanimous decision, to become the WBC Super Featherweight champion. In the seventh round there was controversy as Marquez thoroughly dominated the round then gets knocked down by Barrera, in which referee Jay Nady ruled a slip. Nady then penalized Barrera for hitting while Marquez was on the canvas.
* March 24 Mikkel Kessler successfully defends his WBA and WBC Super middleweight titles after defeating Librado Andrade by a shutout unanimous decision.
* April 7 Joe Calzaghe successfully defends his WBO and RIng Magazine Super middleweight titles after defeating Peter Manfredo of The Contender fame, by a third round technical knockout.
* April 8 HBO airs De la Hoya/Mayweather 24/7 for three weeks to hype the highly anticipated matchup between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
* April 14 Ruslan Chagaev becomes the new WBA Heavyweight Champion after defeating Nicolay Valuev by majority decision.
* April 28 Juan Diaz unifies the WBA and WBO Lightweight titles after defeating Acelino Freitas, after Freitas refused to answer the bell before round nine.
* May 5 In what was a highly anticipated matchup, Floyd Mayweather Jr defeats Oscar de la Hoya by split decision, taking the WBC junior middleweight title. Despite being one of the richest fights in history of the sport, the fight generally did not exceed the hype.
* May 7 Former Super Featherweight and lightweight champion Diego Corrales dies in a motorcycle accident, near his home in Las Vegas. Corrales died on the two year anniversary of his thrilling fight against Jose Luis Castillo, a fight regarded as one of the greatest in modern history and won the Ring Magazine fight of the year.
* June 2 Sultan Ibragimov defeats Shannon Briggs by unanimous decision to take the WBO Heavyweight title.
* June 9 Miguel Cotto successfully defends his WBC Welterweight title as he defeats Zab Judah by technical knockout in the 11th.
* June 23 Ricky Hatton defends his Ring Magazine light welterweight crown as he defeats Jose Luis Castillo by knockout. Castillo for the first time touches canvas in his professional career as Hatton hit him with a perfect liver punch.
* July 7 Vic Darchinyan loses his IBF and IBO Flyweight titles as he gets knocked out by Nonito Donaire in five rounds.
* July 14 Paul Williams becomes the WBO welterweight champion as he defeats Antonio Margarito by unanimous decision.
* July 18 Daisuke Naito upsets Pongsaklek Wonjongkam by unanimous decision, gaining the WBC flyweight title in the process. Naito ends Wonjongkam's six year run as WBC champion, despite defeating Naito on two previous occasions.
* August 4 Israel Vazquez defeats Rafael Marquez by technical knockout in the sixth round to recapture the WBC Super bantamweight title in their rematch. The two traded punches throughout the fight before Vazquez dominated Marquez in the sixth round causing the referee to stop the fight.
* September 29 Kelly Pavlik upsets Jermain Taylor by seventh round TKO to win the WBC, WBO, and universally recognized Middleweight Champion of the World. Pavlik was knocked down in the second round, but rallied back against a tired Taylor.
* October 6 Manny Pacquiao defeats Marco Antonio Barrera by unanimous decision. Barrera would announce his retirement after the fight.
* November 4 Joe Calzaghe defeats Mikkel Kessler by unanimous decision in a unification bout for the WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles. Calzaghe becomes the first undisputed super middleweight champion and surpasses the 20 defences made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively.
* December 8 Floyd Mayweather, Jr. successfully defends his WBC and RIng Welterweight titles as he defeats Ricky Hatton by 10th round technical knockout.

2008

* January 19 Ruslan Chagaev successfully defends his WBA Heavyweight title as he defeats Matt Skelton by unanimous decision.
* January 19 Roy Jones, Jr defeats Felix Trinidad by unanimous decision. In his first fight in two years and second in five, Trinidad was down twice in the fight before losing.
* February 16 Kelly Pavlik defeats Jermain Taylor by unanimous decision in a rematch of their 2007 encounter.
* February 23 Wladimir Klitschko unifies the IBF and WBO Heavyweight titles as he defeats Sultan Ibragimov by unanimous decision in Madison Square Garden.
* March 1 Israel Vazquez successfully defends the WBC and Ring Magazine titles as he defeats Rafael Marquez by split decision. Vazquez wins the thrilling trilogy 2-1.
* March 8 David Haye unifies the WBA WBC and WBO titles as he defeats Enzo Maccarinelli by a second round technical knockout.
* March 8 Nate Campbell upsets Juan Diaz by split decision, Campbell becomes the unified WBA IBF WBO champion.
* March 8 Sam Peter wins the WBC Heavyweight title as he defeats Oleg Maskaev by 6th round TKO.
* March 15 Manny Pacquiao becomes the WBC Super Featherweight champion as he defeats Juan Manuel Marquez by split decision.
* March 22 Joel Casamayor defeats Michael Katsidis by tenth round technical knockout to defend the RIng Magazine Lightweight championship. In a thrilling back and forth fight, Casamayor knocked down Katsidis twice in the opening round, only to have Katsidis comeback with a knockdown in the sixth. Casamayor knocked Katsidis down again in the tenth, hurting him in the process, in which the referee called a halt to the contest.
* April 12 Chad Dawson defeats Glen Johnson by a close unanimous decision. Dawson retains his WBC Light Heavyweight title.
* April 12 Antonio Tarver gains the IBF Light Heavyweight title as he defeats Clinton Woods by unanimous decision.
* April 12 Antonio Margarito knocks out Kermit Cintron in the 6th round to gain the IBF Welterweight title.
* April 12 Miguel Cotto defeats former Contender star Alfonso Gomez to retain the WBA Welterweight title. The fight doctor put a halt on the contest before the start of the sixth round.
* April 19 Joe Calzaghe defeats Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas by split decision to gain the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight championship.