The best fights of 2002, though, took place in more traditional sites.

Oscar De La Hoya had perhaps the defining moment of his career when he stopped Fernando Vargas in the 11th round of their 154-pound title fight in Las Vegas, while Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales fought their second featherweight battle in the fight capital.

No titles were at stake for Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward, but they both fought like champions in splitting a pair of wars in a Connecticut casino and then in Atlantic City.

It was a year in which 40-year-old Evander Holyfield lost a chance at winning the heavyweight title for an unprecedented fifth time but still said he would fight on, and Roy Jones Jr. agreed to make history and try to become only the second light heavyweight champion to win a heavyweight title when he fights John Ruiz.

A pair of Ukrainian brothers emerged as heavyweight threats, while woman's boxing showed it still has a long way to go when Christy Martin's win over Mia St. John drew only a few hundred people in Detroit.

Still, it was Lewis and Tyson who dominated boxing for the first half of the year, beginning with a press conference melee in January and not ending until Lewis pounded Tyson into submission in the eighth round on June 8 in Memphis.

The fight generated enormous interest, and enormous revenues. Nearly 2 million households paid to watch on pay-per-view in the United States, and the two fighters made some $25 million apiece.

The buildup to the fight was spectacular, and so was the performance of Lewis, who dominated Tyson from the second round on and exposed the formerly fearsome champion as an aging fighter with few remaining skills.

Tyson was left baffled, bewildered and bleeding, so badly beaten that he was even questioning his own skills.

''There's no way I could ever beat him,'' Tyson said. ''He's just too big and too strong.''

The fight was the only one of the year for both heavyweights, although Tyson is returning to Memphis on Feb. 22 to resume his career against Clifford Etienne. Lewis will likely fight in April, then the two are contractually obligated to meet in a rematch after that.

De La Hoya also fought only once in 2002, but he made the most of his limited time in the ring with a performance that erased doubts about his willingness to trade punches when he stopped Vargas in the 11th round of their junior middleweight fight Sept. 14.

Vargas was bigger and stronger -- perhaps partly because he had taken steroids during training -- and De La Hoya had some anxious moments in the early rounds in a fight that matched two Los Angeles rivals.

Vargas landed a succession of right hands to the head in the fifth round and seemed to be taking control. But De La Hoya came back to win the sixth round and then cinched the fight with a left hook in the final seconds of the 10th round that staggered Vargas.

Vargas came out in the 11th round and valiantly tried to fight, but De La Hoya dropped him with another left hook. He then followed it with a series of punches to the head that ended the fight.

It may have been a defining moment in De La Hoya's career, one that has now spanned a decade and championships in five weight classes to go along with his 1992 Olympic gold medal.

Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko weren't as impressive in their fights, but they showed in the final weeks of the year that they would be a force in the heavyweight ranks.

Vitali beat Larry Donald to earn a shot at Lewis, probably in April, while Wladimir was cautious but effective in stopping Jameel McCline to boost his chances. The brothers, who say they won't fight each other, have a goal to hold pieces of the heavyweight title at the same time.

The holder of one of those pieces is now Chris Byrd, who has fought both Klitschkos. Byrd was impressive in beating Holyfield in Atlantic City, though Holyfield's age and slowing reflexes kept him from becoming competitive.

Holyfield says he will fight on, though, until he reaches his goal -- becoming the undisputed champion once again.

As is usual in boxing, some of the action took place outside the ring.

After the melee at the Lewis-Tyson press conference in January, Nevada boxing authorities refused to give Tyson a license, forcing promoters to scurry around the country trying to find a place for the lucrative fight.

In November, the state's athletic commission came back to deal a harsh penalty of nine months suspension and a $100,000 fine to Vargas for what the fighter claimed was an inadvertent use of steroids.

And, if the pro game didn't have enough problems, the U.S. Olympic Committee put the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation on probation and threatened the program with extinction if it doesn't clean up its financial and organizational difficulties.

On a somber note, Pedro Alcazar of Panama became the fifth fighter to die from injuries in the ring over the years in Nevada following his 115-pound title fight with Fernando Montiel on June 22.

Medical officials were perplexed over the death because Alcazar spent the day after the fight sightseeing in Las Vegas before collapsing the next morning. His death helped spur a recommendation that all fighters in Nevada undergo brain scans before fighting in the state.