Images from Cancun: Juan Manuel Marquez mobbed as Ramos fight nears

Earlier today in Cancun, Mexico, WBA and WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez arrived to the city after breaking camp a thousand miles away in Mexico City. Marquez will be meeting Columbia's Likar Ramos on Saturday night inside of the Plaza de Toros and he must come away with a victory to secure a November date with Manny Pacquiao inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The bout will mark Marquez’s first fight in Mexico in over sixteen years, dating back to his November 1994 2nd round knockout over Jose Luis Montes. Marquez has had many training camps in his native land since that time but you can tell how elated he was to come to such a grand reception on this day.

“I am very happy to be here. I feel a lot of emotion to get such a reception. I just arrived and the people greeted me and wished me luck for my fight on Saturday and my commitment to them is to walk out with my fist raised,” Marquez stated in a BoxingScene.com piece by Rafael Soto.

What’s also special for Marquez in this fight, aside for the Pacquiao fight being on the line, is the fact that his younger brother Rafael will be making an appearance on the undercard against Eusebio Osejo. Rafael has been a fine champion in his own right and you can sense how deep the brothers’ bond is from hearing Juan tell it.

“It’s double motivation for this fight,” Marquez continued. “To fight in my country will always make me proud, and it is great that my brother will fight on the undercard. I’ll arrive excited, and ready to give the fans a great victory for this warm reception.”

The brothers last shared a card together in August of 2006 at the MontBleu Casino in Stateline, Nevada, when Juan stopped Terdsak Kokietgym for a 7th round TKO while Rafael broke down Silence Mabuza for a stoppage after nine rounds.

Images of lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez arriving in Cancun, Mexico

(Credit:Rafael Soto via BoxingScene.com)

Source: http://www.examiner.com

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Arum's Update on Cotto-Margarito II, Pacquiao-Marquez

Although Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum still is undecided on where the Dec. 3 rematch between WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico and ex-titlist Antonio Margarito of Mexico will take place, he told BoxingScene.com that New York's Madision Square Garden is ahead in the considerations over the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.



The battle is the return bout of a 2008 clash that ended with Margarito (38-7, 27 knockouts) handing Cotto (36-2, 29KOs) the first loss of his professional career with an 11th-round stoppage the MGM Grand.
"It looks like New York, but Las Vegas still is in the running," said Arum. "New York is in the lead right it's not done yet."


A former two-time welterweight and one-time junior welterweight champion, the 30-year-old Cotto's fights have been arguably the most popular of any present-day boxer's at Madison Square Garden, where he often has fought in June on the eve of New York's City's annual Puerto Rican Day parade.


Cotto is 8-0, with three knockouts when fighting in New York, and he is 6-0 at Madison Square Garden, where four of those contests have taken place on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.


"Basically, Miguel prefers New York City," said Cotto's legal adviser, Gaby Penagaricano. "But he's willing to consider Las Vegas if financially it makes a significant change for the event."


Arum had said, however, that New York fights had been cost-prohibitive, particular for an inaugural winter bout featuring Cotto, whose closest bout to that time of year in New York was a November, 2007, unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley at Madison Square Garden.


"The problems with New York is the expenses with the hotel situation. In the beginning of December, the rates are through the cieling,"  Arum had told BoxingScene.com on July 6., adding that Madison Square Garden, at the time, was "attempting to get us a really good hotel deal," and that, "Another problem is that the Garden, because of their union, is a very expensive building to operate in."


On Tuesday, however, Arum said New York officials came back with a nice package for the hotels, making MSG a more attractive and likely venue for the 33-year-old Margarito and Cotto to rematch.


Arum also said that he has not yet determined which network, HBO or Showtime, will get to televise either the Cotto-Margarito fight that or the Nov. 12, third bout between eight-division titlist and WBO welterweight king Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) and WBO and WBA light weight titlist Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs).


The two networks are in a bidding war over the two bouts.


"We're expecting Showtime's proposal today or tomorrow," said Arum.

Source: http://www.boxingscene.com

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Underdog Boxing: Juan Manuel Marquez and the danger of a tune-up match

Some fighters feel that they need to get in a good workout before engaging in a big match with a marquee opponent. What they do is get an overmatched opponent to have a tune-up fight with. This is exactly what Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs) will do this weekend. 

To prepare for his third fight against Manny Pacquiao, Marquez will head on to Cancun, Mexico to fight Likar Ramos (24-3-0, 18 KOs). Marquez is not stupid. He won’t choose an opponent who has a legitimate chance of derailing the completion of the Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy. Although the record of Ramos makes him look passable for an opponent for Marquez, a quick look at his résumé and you will see that he has not defeated anyone of worth. The only decent names in there are one-time Pacquiao victim Jorge Solis and journeyman Walter Estrada, and guess what, Ramos lost to both fighters.

However, even if Ramos seems like a low-risk opponent for Marquez, we all know that a lot of things can go wrong with these tune-up fights.

Erik Morales and Pacquiao both took tune-up fights before their rematch and the two fought in the same boxing card. Pacquiao knocked out Hector Velazquez but Morales failed to hold his end of the bargain, losing to Zahir Raheem by unanimous decision.

Losses to tune-up opponents are not the only things that make these kinds of fights dangerous. Marco Antonio Barrera took a tune-up fight in Mexico against Freudis Rojas who had an atrocious record of a single win, seven losses, and a draw. It was supposed to be in preparation for a fight against Amir Khan. Barrera did win the fight but he suffered cuts due to headbutts. These cuts came back to haunt Barrera in his fight against Khan.

Marquez needs to win, and win big against Ramos so as not to jeopardize the fight against Pacquiao.

If Marquez loses, then the fight against Pacquiao will automatically be off. For Pacquiao, there will be no sense in defeating a fighter who just lost to someone like Ramos

If Marquez wins a close decision, Pacquiao-Marquez 3 will be a hard sell to fans. And if that happens, Bob Arum can pull the plug on this fight altogether.

Even if Marquez wins convincingly, there are a lot of factors that could go wrong for him. Ramos is not a clean fighter by any stretch. He was given a one-point deduction in his last defeat for punching at the back of the head and he also has a disqualification loss to Edinson Garcia because Ramos bit him the shoulder. A cut here or a slight hand injury there and the fight against Pacquiao may be off for Marquez.

The Mexican veteran must have a perfect fight this weekend. If he fights too cautiously, he might turn off fans. If he fights too wildly, he might get hurt. Marquez needs to find the perfect balance between being careful but still give an exciting fight.


Source: http://www.gmanews.tv

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Roach bares training plans for Pacquiao

If Manny Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach will have his way, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion should start preparing for his for his defense of his 147-pound crown against Juan Manuel Marquez as early as the first week of September.

Roach, in an overseas telephone talk with Malaya Business Insight, said he has drawn a nine week training program in the Philippines and in Los Angeles, California to build Pacquiao up for his third fight with the Mexican legend to complete the their trilogy on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas.

The nine-week preparation is a week longer than what the pound-for-pound king and eight-division world champion has undergone in his previous fights. Another deviation from the usual run up is that, in this fight, only three weeks will be spent in the Philippines, most-likely in Baguio City and six weeks at the Wild Card Gym, which he owns, in downtown Hollywood.
Against Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Sugar Shane Mosley, Pacquiao had pitched training camp in an equal four-week ratio each in the Philippines and the U.S.

"Three weeks in The Philippines and six weeks here at Wild Card, “ Roach told this writer. "It's a better split than last time. Here in Wild Card is where the focus comes in.”
The move, obviously, is meant to separate the Pacman from the distractions he experienced in his most recent fights when his duties and responsibilities as an elected Congressman of Sarangani Province, to a certain extent, obstructed his training.

“Manny’s previous two fights against Marquez were both close and this time, I want him to concentrate more to ensure that at the end of the trilogy, Manny will again emerge as winner, convincingly that is,” the four-time “Trainer of the Year” honoree reasoned out.

“Not that I’m worried about Manny losing this time or that he’s missed his training. I can’t see any reason why Marquez can beat Manny. Likewise, Manny has shown so many times how serious he’s been in training, virtually killing himself in the process ” Roach clarified though.

“But, as always, I believe there’s no substitute for a better preparations. I don’t want to see him killing himself again in training. He’s not getting any younger,” he explained “ Boxing is one sport where you cannot say really what would happen. A big upset is not totally discounted in this game where the better prepared fighters always prevail over the complacent ones.”

“The main reason why Manny consented into fighting Marquez for the third time is prove to all and sundry that he really is the better fighter between them and that’s what we will be proving comes fight time,” he stressed.

The first time the two fought in 2004, Pacquiao only managed a draw despite dropping Marques thrice in the opening round. Four years later, the Filipino hero only settled for a split decision win after sending the Mexican to the canvas in the third round.

Since then, Pacquiao won all his fights climbing from lightweight to super-lightweight to welterweight to superwelterweight, while Marquez remained in the 130 to 135-pound limit before meeting and losing to undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the only time he climbed into the ring above his normal weights.

Claiming he won in both fights, Marquez kept pursuing Pacquiao to meet him for the third time the next three years even going to Manila once to no avail until Top Rank’s Bob Arum agreed having obtained permission from rival Golden Boy promotions of Oscar DeLa Hoya, which owns Marquez fight rights and only after several attempts to pit Pacquiao and Mayweather in what is believed to be the richest and biggest fight in the history of boxing failed to materialize.

Source: http://philboxing.com

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Juan Manuel Marquez Knows He’s a Dead Man vs. Manny Pacquiao

Even Juan Manual Marquez knows he has zero chance against Manny Pacquiao. In fact, the man who was once upon a time regarded as Pacquiao’s biggest foe and arch nemesis appears strangely resigned to the fact that he will get ripped to shreds in the pair’s November 12 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Speaking with the Manila Standard regarding his upcoming match, Marquez made these very telling comments:

“I’ll go for the kill or die trying,” Marquez told the Manila Standard.

Spoken like a dead man walking.

The truth is, this a very different Marquez than the one who fought against Pacquiao in the pair’s prior two showdowns. In their first fight, of course, the two famously fought to a controversial 12-round draw back in 2004. Then in 2008, when Pacquiao was supposedly at the top of his game and ready to throw a beating to anyone in the sport, he earned an extremely controversial -- and in some circles, undeserved -- split decision in 2008.

A third match between the two appeared imminent back then, but now it feels like every other time Pacquiao has fought against a washed-up opponent – a little too late. The Marquez who will step into the ring in November is not the same one who clearly deserved a win in at least one of his two battles against Pacquiao. This is the Marquez who has been slowed down by years upon years of fighting opponents of comparable skill levels and an undeniable beat down via Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in late 2009.

Does Marquez have a shot at beating the best Filipino boxer in the sport today in his own mind? Of course. In reality? Not so much.

Therefore, when he says that he is prepared to die against Pacquiao, it’s hard to read anything more into those comments other than that they're the desperate attempts of a delusional fighter trying to pump himself up for an inevitable defeat.

Marquez’s suicidal claims aside, the far more interesting subplot to all this is how it will influence Pacquiao’s legacy. Win or lose, it’s hard to place much value into what should be an easy win at this point in time. A year and a half ago, Marquez was still a legitimate threat to Mayweather, Pacquiao and anyone else. Now, he’s a shell of his former self. In essence, Pacquiao (yet again) appears to be dead set to fight against a guy who is all but a guaranteed victory.

A money and victory total boost is forthcoming for the Filipino superstar, but in terms of legacy enhancement, this is not the way to go. Rather, Mayweather’s plan is the way to go.

Either way, Marquez knows that death is looming come November. He can either take his massacre while running away like Shane Mosley did in Pacquiao’s last match, or he can stand up like Antonio Margarito and get punished into oblivion. Either way, Marquez loses – both literally and figuratively.

Source: http://www.opposingviews.com

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