Berlin – The main question for boxing fans in 2013 is 'Who can break the Klitschko brothers domination of the heavyweight division?' with no obvious contenders on the horizon.
Having now held the WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO titles for the last 18 months, Wladimir Klitschko earned the 59th victory of his career in November when he earned a unanimous decision over Polish giant Mariusz Wach.
Apart from a fifth round flurry of punches, the 2.02m tall Wach rarely tested the champion, even though Klitschko was grieving after the death of his coach Emanuel Steward from cancer three weeks before the fight.
Klitschko had been coached by Steward since 2004, but the Ukrainian said no decision had been made about who would coach him for his next title fight with Russia's Alexander Povetkin his likely opponent early in 2013.
As always, there are rumours of a fight between either Witali, the WBC champion, or Wladimir against Britain's David Haye, who came out of retirement to inflict a fifth round TKO on compatriot Dereck Chisora in July.
Of late, Haye was more interested in battling the Australian jungle and other celebrity egos in the British TV show “I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!” with no sign of a fight deal near signing.
Haye and Chisora did nothing for boxing's image in February when they traded blows and insults in the Munich press conference after Witali Klitschko's unanimous win over Chisora.
With Haye supposed to be in retirement, Chisora was banned by the British Boxing Board of Control, only to announce in May the pair would fight at London's Upton Park, as Haye earned a fifth round TKO.
There was more positive news in August as women's boxing made its Olympic debut to much acclaim.
Ireland's Katie Taylor, a deeply religious former football and gaelic football international, grabbed the limelight when she won the women's lightweight gold in the final at London's ExCel Centre.
Her victory made plenty of noise in the boxing world as it reached 127 decibels when she entered the arena for her final bout against Russia's Sofya Ochigava.
Australia's Daniel Geale lived up to his 'Real Deal' monicker in September when he earned a split decision verdict to relieve Felix Strum of his Super WBA middleweight title in Germany to add to the IBF crown he won in 2011.
Geale defends his IBF belt against compatriot Anthony Mundine in Sydney on January 30.
Veteran Philippines welterweight Manny Pacquiao suffered a miserable end to the season when he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in the pair's fourth meeting.
Pacquiao had controversially lost in a split decision to unbeaten American Timothy Bradley, but a World Boxing Organisation review later declared 'Pac-Man' the winner.
Former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton bowed out of boxing following his ninth-round stoppage against Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester.
Hatton announced his return to the ring in September, 14 months after initially calling time on his career, with his previous fight having been back in 2009.
The 34-year-old suffered a ninth-round stoppage and said: “I needed one more fight to see if I had still got it - and I haven't. I couldn't have done any better.” – Sapa-AFP