We enter into a new decade with boxing rising out of the unintentional of casual fans and back into the majority. We have a discussion that takes place for a mega fight, which stands to make both fighters in the area of 40 million dollars each. The buzzing around this fight has only been sensitive by a steroid debate that seems as if it’s been thrown in as pure fight excitement. We have exciting fighters in most of the weight divisions and the emergence of David Have as a title holder in the forceful division does set fire to a certain spark we have all been waiting for, for some years. Boxing does look promise and even strong right now.

The question rises if boxing has slipped into whole sports entertainment, or does it still remains an aggressive sport? With the fame of the internet, all of the fans are now in the know for every feature of every boxing match. We know who said what, who requested what size gloves or what size ring. We know who is getting what cut of the takings before the contract is even signed. The boxers know that the fans are more learned now than ever, and the promotions do as well. We only have to read how many times fights don’t happen over purse splits and talks to know that the business of boxing is taking over the sport. We rarely see 2 competitive men wanting to square off to prove who is better. We mostly have boxers coming through the ranks taking soft challenger and cherry picking matches they know they will win, so they can have a record that catches the eye and gives the impression you’re watching someone amazing.

For the woman he loved, he became a paratrooper in the vaunted 82nd Airborne Division and eventually a U.S. citizen. With his enlistment nearly up, 6-foot, 5-inch, 230-pound Army Spc. Wenderson Jangada is ready to return to his home country of Brazil to reclaim the title of heavyweight boxing champion.

Jangada deployed to Iraq’s Anbar province in August as an infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, a unit whose battle campaign streamers from World War II read like a Stephen Spielberg movie script: Sicily, Anzio, Normandy, and the Ardennes.

It is a fitting unit for a former boxing champion who has fought and trained with boxers from Argentina, Russia, and most of Europe.

“I learn from them all -- some good, some bad. The Russians just want to kill you,” he said with a laugh.

Though Jangada’s enlistment expires in early 2010, he expects to be extended through late autumn, allowing him to complete the current deployment.

“I will take a couple months off, and then I will train to fight again,” said the 2001/2002 transcontinental heavyweight champ. “Perhaps I will take my titles back.”

At 34 in the sport of boxing, Jangada is a mature practitioner, though he has friends who have boxed professionally into their 40s. “If the boxing doesn’t work out, I will open a gym with my friend Daniel Silva,” he said. Jangada is considering Chicago, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Ind., as possible locations.

“I am a better trainer than a boxer,” he said. “Training a boxer is a puzzle. It’s like building a house. Everyone starts too fast. I started too fast, but I learned.”

Jangada began his career as a muay Thai fighter in the same Brazilian gym that spawned mixed martial-arts greats Wanderlei and Anderson Silva. But that’s not for him, Jangada said.

“Boxing is a noble art. It’s a classic. Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali are classics. Besides, I have heavy hands,” he said, referring to his 38 knockouts.

Recently promoted from private first class to specialist, Jangada is stationed here, 10 miles from the Syrian border, where paratroopers are partnered with Iraqi border enforcement troops.

In his time off, Jangada coaches his battle buddies in the art of boxing. “They have heart here in the Army, much more than civilians,” he said.

Army 1st Lt. Christopher Hollingsworth, Jangada’s platoon leader from Ennis, Texas, takes advantage of Jangada’s boxing mentorship whenever he can. The former Special Forces operator and medic from 3rd Special Forces Group said he would be stupid not to take advantage of such world-class talent.

“The training he did with such a wide range of top boxers makes him a great instructor,” Hollingsworth said. “We are constantly trying to pick his brain.”

Noting the great progress Iraqi security forces have made in Anbar province, Jangada said the deployment is quieter than he had expected.

“Infantry is like boxing. We are fighters. We are the war dogs. We expected to find more action, but this is not the case. But then, I am glad to see nobody hurt,” he said.

His wife, Susan, a former professional volleyball player, moved back to Indiana to be near family until her husband returns from Iraq.

On the night of Oct. 24, Jangada was manning a guard tower. It was dark and cold and the pouring rain had turned the “moondust” on the base into deep, sticky gumbo. A soldier brought him a note from the Red Cross. The details: Fergeson Jangada, born Oct. 24 in Bluffington, Ind., 8 pounds, 12.3 ounces, 21 inches, mother and baby doing fine.

Susan likes the Army for the stability and health benefits, said Jangada, who is still considering re-enlistment.

“His top end is unlimited,” Hollingsworth said. “If he chooses to stay in the Army, he can do whatever he wants.” In the meantime, he has eight months left in the deployment to be the best paratrooper he can be, he said.

“Sometimes we love it; sometimes we hate it, but we can never forget it,” Jangada said. “No matter what I do when I get out, serving in the 82nd Airborne Division is something I’m going to bring with me forever.”

(Army Spc. Michael J. MacLeod serves in the Multinational Force West public affairs office.)

As inspiring as Many Pacquiao's 2008 boxer of the Year campaign was, his 2009 campaign exceeded it.

In 2008, he frame the best challenger of his career,Juan Manuel Marquez,at junior lightweight;moved up to lightweight and beat a top-10 man in the partition,David Diaz;then jetted up two more weight classes to bang out the most famous challenger of his career,Oscar De La Hoya.His year was compared to what one of the top five or so best fighters ever,Henry Armstrong,achieved by hopping from featherweight to welterweight in 1938 and holding the championships in all those divisions at once, and the comparison wasn't extremely foolish.That's a good year.

But it wasn't as excellent as what Pacquiao did in 2009.And when you compare better and worse, you have to come up with reasons for how something's better or worse. It's true that many, me included, don't think Pacquiao beat Marquez, even though it was a close fight and I have no grievance with the outcome.It's true that Diaz was an under talented overachiever who didn't even have to "win" his alphabet title belt it was handed to him because a sanction organization just flat stripped someone else of it and it's the least exciting of the many belts Pacquiao has won. It's true that De La Hoya was weight-drained and aging.That's still a really nice year. Beating Marquez ain't easy.De La Hoya was the betting favorite,and Pacquiao retired him. Diaz -- OK, not greatly there, but Diaz did better than De La Hoya,so there's that.