by David P. Greisman
Just when it seemed that Juan Manuel Marquez had recovered fully from Pacman fever, he came down with a brand new infection. And just when Vitali Klitschko was less than two weeks from his comeback fight after nearly three years out of the ring, he suffered yet another in a long line of injuries, still more ammo against the man to whom boxing writer Steve Kim once gave the derisive moniker of “Brittle-ly.”
Marquez had been scheduled to defend his World Boxing Council junior lightweight title Saturday against Rocky Juarez, who himself had stepped in as a late replacement when Jorge Barrios was sidelined by retina tears in both eyes. But Marquez suffered a cut on his right hand during training camp, an injury that, according to a press release from Golden Boy Promotions, progressed into an infection, severe swelling and a logical reason to call off both Marquez-Juarez and the remaining fights on what would have been the pay-per-view undercard.
“The safety of our fighters comes first, and it’s too bad that Juan Manuel got hurt after training so hard for this fight,” Oscar De La Hoya, head of the promotional body derived from his nickname, said in the press release. “We are having him to Los Angeles this [past] weekend for further evaluation and treatment by a specialist.
“We are committed to bringing excellent shows to our fans, and with the unfortunate injury to Marquez at this late stage our only option was to cancel the show,” he said.
There were times when few foresaw Marquez headlining major main events – or even having options.
Marquez was once a fighter whose Q-rating was inversely proportional to his pound-for-pound ranking, a Mexican fighter who couldn’t convince the top featherweights to face him and thus hadn’t achieved the fame of countrymen Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
Things looked even worse after three minutes with Manny Pacquiao.
Marquez asserted himself after the opening bell, coming forward and landing good straight rights. But the latter half of the first stanza saw Pacquiao, who was fresh off his November 2003 domination of Barrera, send Marquez to the canvas thrice, bloodying his nose and raising the possibility that the fight would soon end. Marquez, however, adjusted over the remaining 11 rounds, using subtle head movements to dodge Pacquiao’s left hand, counterpunching with right hooks and uppercuts and earning a draw.
It was one heck of a fight, and the judges’ controversial decision only bolstered the calls for a rematch. But Marquez’ team reportedly priced themselves out of the negotiations, the rematch never came and Pacquiao moved on to a trilogy with Morales.
Marquez, meanwhile, was stuck in a rut. He was still winning clearly, taking unanimous decisions over Orlando Salido and Victor Polo, yet it was as if he had not only left a little of himself in the ring with Pacquiao, but a lot of his career, too.
His promoter must have felt the same way.
Marquez was set to make a mandatory defense of his International Boxing Federation featherweight title against Phafrakorb Rakkietgym, but Top Rank was reportedly unwilling to pay the $50,000 minimum purse bid for the bout to take place. The unsuccessful purse bid auction led the IBF, astoundingly, to strip Marquez of his belt. In turn, the World Boxing Association no longer recognized Marquez as their “super” champion, a distinction for fighters with unified titles. If Marquez wanted some gold, he would need to face the WBA’s “regular” titlist, an undefeated prospect named Chris John.
That fight went to purse bid, too, and was won by a promoter who chose to stage the card in Indonesia. Marquez traveled overseas, losing to John via unanimous decision. Adding proverbial insult to injury, Marquez’ paycheck was a miniscule $25,000. It took some time for many fight scribes (including this one, admittedly) to see Marquez-John for what it truly was – an outright robbery.
Rock bottom.
And Marquez rose, rejuvenated.
He began to take his destiny into his own hands – no more worrying about managers and negotiations, promoters and purse bids or judges and decisions. Marquez came out aggressively in successive fights against Terdsak Jandaeng and Jimrex Jaca, beating both by knockout. He had signed on with Golden Boy Promotions, a move that got him a long-awaited shot at Marco Antonio Barrera. With the win over Barrera, on pay-per-view, in the main event, Marquez was finally where he deserved to be.
It didn’t last long.
The hand injury may end up as just a temporary stop in Marquez’ momentum, but any interruption is unwelcome when a fighter is just reaching his pinnacle years after he’d peaked.
As for Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight titlist can’t seem to get his train out of the station.
The elder Klitschko brother’s biggest night had come in June 2003, when he slugged it out with Lennox Lewis but lost when the bout was stopped due to the gruesome cuts around Klitschko’s left eye. Lewis eventually retired, preventing Klitschko from gaining redemption in the ring. Yet athletic competition occasionally allows one to win by losing – Klitschko took the mantle of people’s champion, won Lewis’ vacant WBC heavyweight title and eventually set off toward defending it on April 30, 2005, against the last man to defeat Lewis, Hasim Rahman.
That fight never came.
Klitschko pulled a muscle in his left leg in March 2005, delaying the bout until June 18. Klitschko was healing slowly, so that date was switched to July 23. Klitschko, though, underwent back surgery in April to fix a nerve problem, so the match was pushed back indefinitely. An interim title bout between Rahman and Monte Barrett was set, initially for July but later for August. Klitschko mentioned coming back and making an optional defense against Calvin Brock, creating a slight uproar. Rahman out-bored Barrett to become Klitschko’s mandatory challenger, and a date was eventually set for November.
Much ado about nothing.
Klitschko suffered a knee injury in sparring and subsequently retired. The WBC named him its “Champion Emeritus,” allowing him to come back as the mandatory challenger should he ever heal his wounds and should he find retirement to no longer be fulfilling.
That day came, but legal wrangling meant Klitschko would face Jameel McCline on Sept. 22 before eventually taking on the WBC titlist, the winner of October’s Oleg Maskaev-Samuel Peter throwdown.
Klitschko makes Humpty Dumpty look stable.
Klitschko, according to reports from Agence France-Presse, underwent spinal surgery in an Austrian clinic. Scott Hirsch, McCline’s manager, confirmed to BoxingScene’s own Rick Reeno that the bout was off, that Klitschko had pulled out because of a back injury.
Meanwhile, countless boxing fans are complaining of a persistent pain in the neck.
Three weeks, three postponements. Fernando Vargas’ Sept. 8 slugfest against Ricardo Mayorga was delayed when Vargas was diagnosed with anemia. This Saturday’s Marquez-Juarez pay-per-view was canceled after Marquez’ hand injury. And the following week’s Klitschko-McCline card has now disappeared from the calendar, too.
Somewhere in the United States, HBO’s chiefs, along with promoters Lou DiBella and Bob Arum, are pondering whether Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik, who are scheduled to fight Sept. 29 for the middleweight championship, can train in padded rooms.
The 10 Count
1. Marquez’ injury – and the pay-per-view’s subsequent cancellation – had an effect on fights beyond Marquez’ main event bout with Rocky Juarez.
On the undercard, Kassim Ouma was set to make his first appearance since his December decision loss to Jermain Taylor, facing off against the winner of the first season of “The Contender,” Sergio Mora. Mora hasn’t fought since August 2006.
In addition, former junior lightweight titlist Steve Forbes, who was the runner-up in the second season of “The Contender,” was scheduled to meet formerly touted prospect Francisco “Panchito” Bojado in a crossroads bout.
Robert Guerrero was also slated for the televised undercard, a featherweight title defense against Martin Honorio.
The one saving grace is that a certain bet between Oscar De La Hoya and “Sugar” Ray Leonard is, for the moment, off the table.
De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions includes Ouma and Bojado, had agreed with “Contender” host Leonard that if either guy’s fighters went 2-0 on the Marquez-Juarez undercard, the loser would have to be the “ring card girl” during certain rounds of the main event, according to ESPN.com scribe Dan Rafael. If the bouts were split 1-1, both men would do so, a job that would include dressing the part.
De La Hoya will still show up on this week’s episode of “The Contender,” an appearance that Rafael reports was strategically timed.
2. Zab Judah won his first fight in nearly 28 months, outpointing 22-10-2 Edwin Vazquez over 10 rounds on the season finale of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.”
Judah needed just three rounds to destroy Cosme Rivera on the May 2005 pay-per-view undercard to Winky Wright-Felix Trinidad. His next four appearances, however, were decision losses to Carlos Baldomir and Floyd Mayweather Jr., a one-round no contest with Ruben Galvan and a technical knockout defeat against Miguel Cotto. Judah, in need of rounds and some confidence building, went the distance with Vazquez in what seemed at times like a televised sparring session.
In an interview afterward with ringside commentators Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas, Judah said he hurt his left hand earlier in the fight. If that injury doesn’t keep him on the shelf, Judah should look to return soon against a top welterweight whose surname is neither Mayweather nor Cotto.
3. On the “Friday Night Fights” undercard, Adam Richards defeated Rafael Pedro in the fourth round of their 10-round heavyweight bout when referee Bill Clancy disqualified Pedro.
Richards has the fantastic nickname of “the Swamp Donkey.” It was Pedro, however, with his dirty tactics and constant fouling, who showed himself to be the true jackass.
4. Earlier that day in England, Junior Witter retained his junior welterweight title with a seventh-round knockout of former 140-pound beltholder Vivian Harris.
Harris, once regarded as his division’s most-avoided fighter, failed to capitalize on his long-awaited moment in the spotlight when he, over-trained and under-focused, suffered a June 2005 knockout at the hands of Carlos Maussa. Since then, Harris worked his way back toward contention with wins over Marteze Logan, Stevie Johnston and Juan Lazcano.
Witter, though, sent Harris down for the count, this most recent win cementing his place as the top name in the junior welterweight division – at least whenever lineal champion Ricky Hatton chooses to jump seven pounds north to test the welterweight waters. Also vying for that distinction are Witter’s fellow beltholders Paulie Malignaggi, Gavin Rees and Ricardo Torres, with Torres probably providing the most appealing option for a unification bout.
5. Boxers Behaving Badly, part one: Former second-tier super middleweight Scott Pemberton was arrested last week and charged with conspiracy and possession in a drug bust that has 25 people facing charges, according to Massachusetts newspaper The Standard-Times (via BoxingScene’s own Mark Vester).
Police, according to The Standard-Times, said they seized “711 grams of cocaine, 15 pounds of marijuana, numerous narcotic prescription pills, a gun, brass knuckles, laptop computers … several cell phones” and tens of thousands of dollars from five separate homes.
Pemberton was allegedly caught in wiretapped conversations discussing drugs with Stanley P. Lemos, the alleged head of the drug distribution network, authorities said. Undercover police also witnessed an alleged drug deal between Pemberton and Lemos, police said.
Pemberton was released on his own recognizance.
6. Boxers Behaving Badly, part two: Super featherweight Cindy Serrano – who was last seen in the ring losing her undefeated record against Missy Fiorentino – will soon appear in court for her alleged involvement in a drug ring in which steroids and various illegal and prescription drugs were sold out of two gyms to clients that included body builders and aspiring boxers, according to the Associated Press.
Serrano, 25, whose record is 15-1-1 with 7 knockouts, has been charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance. She was being held last week on $10,000 bail.
7. In other action, former heavyweight contender David Tua continued his comeback after two years away from the ring with a second-round stoppage of Cerrone Fox, an 8-5 designated opponent who becomes another entry in a list of foes that is the polar opposite of a murderer’s row.
Tua’s layoff began in March 2003 after an ugly draw with Hasim Rahman. Since returning 24 months later, Tua has faced Talmadge Griffis, Cisse Salif, Edward Gutierrez, Maurice Wheeler, Robert Hawkins, Saul Montana and, as of last week, Fox.
8. Speaking of Rahman, the former heavyweight champion fought on the same Michigan card as Tua, defeating heavyweight measuring stick Dicky Ryan via a second-round technical knockout.
Rahman has fought twice since last year’s last-round stoppage loss to Oleg Maskaev, but, as is his tendency, he has yet to get into the necessary shape for contending in boxing’s marquee division. Against Taurus Sykes in June, Rahman tipped the scales at a career-high 261 pounds, going 10 dreadful rounds with a sacrificial lamb previously served up to Samuel Peter and Derek Bryant.
Rahman was 250 pounds for the Ryan bout, more than a dozen pounds above what is probably his prime fighting weight but light enough to take out a 40-year-old whose biggest victory, a stoppage of 49-0 Brian Nielsen, came eight years ago.
9. Flash back to two years ago, when the most important heavyweight fight on the horizon was the aforementioned Vitali Klitschko against Hasim Rahman – a match-up that failed to come to fruition. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
10. “The Contender” Update: Last week’s season premiere of the third season of Mark Burnett’s boxing reality series was a mix of the enjoyable, the so-so and the lamentable.
The episode began with 16 contestants from four different continents and the introduction of two new trainers, Buddy McGirt and Pepe Correa. It then moved into technological testing of five different areas: speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness, thereby giving McGirt, Correa and show host “Sugar” Ray Leonard ideas of the fighters’ fitness and abilities.
Very quickly, the show introduced some drama – there would only be 10 remaining boxers by the end of the episode. The first two sent home were Les Ralston, whose 16-2 ledger includes a loss to Sergio Mora, and Rubin Williams, whose biggest appearance to date had been a March 2005 stoppage loss against Jeff Lacy. McGirt, Correa and Leonard felt that Ralston was too small and Williams too out of shape. Three fighters were officially drafted into the final 10.
With 11 boxers now vying for the seven remaining spots, Leonard and the trainers watched the fighters spar. Joining them, for some reason, was comedian/actor/radio personality Adam Carolla, who Leonard said was once a boxing trainer. It is uncertain why Carolla’s presence was needed when McGirt and Correa have trained, between them, 12 world champions, but the former host of “The Man Show” ended up with more airtime than some of the professional pugilists.
After sparring, two more boxers got the boot: former junior middleweight fringe contender Rhoshii Wells and Midwestern middleweight Miguel Hernandez. McGirt, Correa and Leonard thought that Wells, who last fought in May 2005, had too much ring rust, while Hernandez was too small. Three more fighters were officially drafted into the final 10.
Six boxers were left to battle for the four remaining spots, and the final cut would be made after sparring sessions with former season-one “Contender” contestants Sergio Mora and Peter Manfredo Jr. Their comrade Alfonso Gomez was also brought in, but the welterweight chose not to get into the ring with the super middleweights. McGirt and Correa then picked five fighters each for their teams, the two who weren’t chosen thus being cut.
Left out were super middleweight LaFarrell Bunting, who suffered a cut over his left eye during the first round of sparring sessions, and one-time light heavyweight title challenger Danny Santiago, who was walking around as a cruiserweight and would have had only one week to drop 23 pounds.
The 10 remaining fighters, then, are Correa’s blue team – Max Alexander, Sakio Bika, Wayne Johnsen, Paul Smith and Brian Vera – and McGirt’s gold team – Jaidon Codrington, Henry “Sugar Poo” Buchanan, Sam Soliman, Donny McCrary and David Banks.
David P. Greisman’s weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com
