Cinco de Mayo weekend one year ago may have marked the weekend that changed boxing forever, and it may have nothing to do with anything that happened inside of a boxing ring.

On May 5, 2007, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. made history, as they participated in the richest boxing event of all-time. Money records and pay-per-view records were set, Mayweather became a household name, Vegas went nuts, and boxing was front-page news again. The event, not the fight, changed boxing. The sport had struggled to match great fighters with each other, but after this fight, that all changed. Fights we didn’t think we’d ever see get made got made, and boxing had one of the best six months in it’s history.

On May 7, 2007, boxing lost a true warrior, when Diego Corrales was killed in a motorcycle accident in Las Vegas. In a matter of three days, boxing saw the extreme highs that the sport can bring, and the ultimate lows that are far too often involved in the sport.

One year later, boxing as a sport is in as good or better shape than it’s been in as long as most of us can remember. Personally, I drive by the spot where Corrales was killed several times a week. The flowers and markers have slowly gone away, but quite often, there will be something new on the side of the road remembering Chico, never allowing those of us that live in that part of Las Vegas to forget his death.

Corrales’ death came on the second anniversary of his epic battle with Jose Luis Castillo, another highlight of boxing’s Cinco de Mayo tradition.

Cinco de Mayo 2006 brought us De La Hoya’s destruction of Ricardo Mayorga, which was Oscar’s return to the ring following a nearly 20-month layoff after losing to Bernard Hopkins.

The holiday weekend of 2004 brought us the original bout between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, ending in a draw.

That makes for two of the best fights of the past five years in Pacquiao-Marquez and Castillo-Corrales I, the biggest event in boxing history in Oscar-Floyd I, another De La Hoya blockbuster against Mayorga, and the death of one of the top fighters of this era, all on the same weekend over the last four years. Corrales’ death aside obviously, this is turning into the can’t miss weekend in boxing.

But for all of the consecutive years of great fights on this weekend, last year changed boxing more than any other weekend. Putting two of the biggest stars in boxing together on a stage that big, seemed to set things up for other marquee matchups to fall into place and for other mega-stars to get in the ring with each other. What followed was an amazing end of 2007, and has led to a great start to 2008.

Since Oscar and Floyd got in the ring, we’ve been treated to Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik I and II, Joe Calzaghe vs. Mikkel Kessler and Hopkins, Hopkins vs. Winky Wright, Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley vs. Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao vs. Marquez II, and Roy Jones vs. Tito Trinidad.

Obviously, some of those fights were not as good, or as hyped as the others, but the point remains that boxing has done good in the last year. Of all of those fights that I listed, how many would you have guessed would have happened had I asked you a year ago? The answer is maybe two or three of those nine. Certainly not six or seven, and no way in hell all nine.

A lot has happened in the last year in boxing, and the sport is in better shape now than it was one year ago. Whether you liked the fight or not, boxing owes a thank you to Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya for simply getting in the ring together. Cinco de Mayo is going to be a big weekend in boxing for as far as I can see.

Rest in peach, Diego “Chico” Corrales.

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