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By Cliff Rold - The skeptics were wrong.
After weeks of pre-fight worry about how the styles might not match up, two old masters showed they measured just fine against each other, providing fans a clinical balance of technique and violence from start to finish. In the end, the precision of Mexico’s 35-year old Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KO) proved too much for lineal World Lightweight champion Joel Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 KO) of Cuba as Marquez scored an eleventh round knockout to capture the crown just three days shy of Mexican Independence Day at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. It was Casamayor’s first loss inside the distance. Marquez adds the Lightweight crown to sanctioning body titles at 126 and 130 lbs.
Both men weighed in spot on the Lightweight limit of 135 lbs.
The schooled excellence of both men was exhibited right away. An immediate rapid exchange ended with a sharp right from Marquez which forced a step back from the larger looking Casamayor. A trade of lefts hands from each was followed by a blocked Marquez right hand near the midway point and another pair of swapped lefts. In the final minute, each man took turns on offense, Casamayor landing several lefts hands and Marquez a right and left hook to close a fairly even opening round. [details]
After weeks of pre-fight worry about how the styles might not match up, two old masters showed they measured just fine against each other, providing fans a clinical balance of technique and violence from start to finish. In the end, the precision of Mexico’s 35-year old Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KO) proved too much for lineal World Lightweight champion Joel Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 KO) of Cuba as Marquez scored an eleventh round knockout to capture the crown just three days shy of Mexican Independence Day at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night. It was Casamayor’s first loss inside the distance. Marquez adds the Lightweight crown to sanctioning body titles at 126 and 130 lbs.
Both men weighed in spot on the Lightweight limit of 135 lbs.
The schooled excellence of both men was exhibited right away. An immediate rapid exchange ended with a sharp right from Marquez which forced a step back from the larger looking Casamayor. A trade of lefts hands from each was followed by a blocked Marquez right hand near the midway point and another pair of swapped lefts. In the final minute, each man took turns on offense, Casamayor landing several lefts hands and Marquez a right and left hook to close a fairly even opening round. [details]
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