By Lem Satterfield
Southpaw, 26-year-old WBO featherweight (126 pounds) king, Juan Manuel Lopez, is among the classiest fighters in boxing, many of whose experts rank him among the sport's top 10 performers, pound-for-pound.
Top Rank Promotions' CEO, Bob Arum, has big plans for the Puerto Rican native, who will put his mark of 28-0, with 25 knockouts on the line on July 10 opposite 22-year-old Filipino Bernabe Concepcion (28-3-1, 15 KOs) before his own fans in Puerto Rico.
On May 22, however, Lopez traveled to the Staples' Center in Los Angeles, where he was at ringside as 35-year-old Rafael Marquez rose to 39-5, with his 35th knockout, cutting his rival over both eyes before scoring a third-round stoppage of 32-year-old Israel Vazquez (44-5, 32 KOs) in the featherweight, fourth meeting between the two.
Marquez even the series at 2-2 against Vaquez, having won by seventh-round knockout to dethrone Vazquez as WBC super bantamweight (122 pounds) champion in their first meeting in March 2007.
Marquez had lost the next two times by sixth-round knockout in August 2007 and split-decision in March 2008, and Lopez figured that he would get a first-hand scouting report of a potential, big money opponent.
But Lopez didn't expect what transpired during the post-fight press conference, when Marquez called him out as a future rival.
"Obviously I would like to fight the best fighters in the division, and the best fighters in the world," said Marquez, staring out at Lopez, who was in the audience. "Obviously, Juan Manuel Lopez is here. I'll fight anyone."
Lopez responded in kind.
"I'm happy that he said that he wanted to fight me. I hope that both teams can put everything together and make the fight happen. He's a strong fighter, but I don't have any doubt that I can beat him," said Lopez. "My fight with [Concepcion] will be a great fight, and we're working very hard to dominate that fight and we're ready to make that happen."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com.
