By James Blears

Before his thrilling 2004 dust up with Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez didn’t spar with any southpaws. This time around, he’s got a trio of them to sharpen him up.

In a public workout at the Romanza gym in Mexico City, Japanese super lightweight Norio Kimura (33-5-2 17 KO’s) who’s ranked seventh in that weight category by the WBC, was the first up to put WBC Super Featherweight champion Juan through his paces in two action packed rounds. Sporting a multi colored hairdo the taller and bigger Norio was repeated caught flush with straight rights and left right combinations in his two intense rounds with the champ. Juan cleverly moved anti clockwise away from Norio’s long sneaky right leads and dodged or smothered sweeping wide angled left hooks.

Next up for a round, was lanky Venezuelan featherweight Rafael Fernandez(10-2 10 KO’s). Juan swiftly cut down the reach disparity with deft ringcraft, jolting Rafael’s pink headguard back with pinpoint hooks and uppercuts and then cracking him with crunching body shots as the two leaned on each other, fighting telephone booth style.

Last but not least was stocky heavily muscled Nicaraguan super bantamweight Eusebio Osejo Cano( 18-4 9 KO’S ) who can also double as a featherweight. He often matched Juan blow for blow and both of them unloaded a blinding head hunting flurry of combinations in the last ten of their action packed round.

Juan who started his training before Christmas, looks muscled, lean, ripped and ready, currently weighing 132-pounds. Brimming with confidence he insisted: “I’m thirty four years old, but I feel twenty five, and as far as experience I’m as smart as a 48 year old. The important thing for me is supreme conditioning and I’m in the best shape of my entire career, because for me, this is the most important fight of my career.”

Commenting about Pacquiao’s excess baggage which was reportedly as heavy as 139 pounds as recently as the weekend, Juan said: “Manny knows he must come into the weight ceremony at 130 pounds, and he knows what he’s got to do to reach it. If he’s over, it’s his problem. I’ve eaten well, I’m virtually on my target weight and I feel very strong.

“Manny also knows what he personally has to do to prepare, because this isn’t going to be an easy fight for him. I think I have a great opportunity to win and I’ve worked three months to this effect. My sparring with the southpaws has gone really well and I’m very happy with the way it’s sharpened me up. I’ve already given one hundred percent in training and on fight night I’m going to give much more.

“Manny’s now a two handed fighter and he hits hard, but I’m not going to be surprised and caught out by his left as happened in our first fight. I’m going to use my power, aggression, work rate and all my technical skill on March 15th. My psychology is: Preparation, condition and my punches.”

Many people were wolfing down tender barbecued steaks and quaffing ice cold beer by the time Rafael Marquez arrived for his lighter training session, as his third and deciding war against Israel Vazquez is as close as March 1st. The smaller gathering at ringside, saw a slightly lower key, but grimly determined Rafael, sporting a number thirteen on his faded grey tee shirt, as he limbered up with some eye watering stretching exercises. He then pounded the pads of trainer Arturo Uruzquieta, often with his cobra like long striking trademark left jab, doubling it up and showing his neat economically precise style, which handsomely won him fight one, but which he almost totally abandoned to his detriment in chapter two.

His own analysis was: “For me, fight one with Israel was a good and intelligent, but in fight two I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve seen them on the video and I’m going to put them right in fight three. I’m going to be more intelligent this time, and I’ve been training since November. This is the most important fight of my career, to re-gain the world title and be back in the ranks of champions.

“I haven’t got a prediction for the fight but at the end of it, my hand is going to be raised high, God willing.”

Golden Boy Promotions Vice President Eric Gomez, was sweltering away with everyone else in Romanaza gym’s shut window caldron heat. His prediction for Rafa V Israel three was: “Maybe, you’ve got to give Israel a little bit of the edge because he won the last fight and Rafa had never been stopped before, so it’s going to be very interesting to see how he comes back.

Mexican great Daniel Zaragoza succinctly got straight to the point saying that with Rafa and Israel’s ability level matching up so closely it was a question of who’s eyebrows or who’s chin would cave in first.

WBC President Jose Sulaiman who was also a guest said: “I would believe the Marquez brothers are going to be more technical than the other two punchers. I believe they should box because they will have a better opportunity to defeat them this way.

“There’s no question in my mind that one of these two bouts could be candidate for fight of the year because they are also up against two great rivals. They are four great boxers of these modern times, and the public expects very good fights.”