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Marquez stops Casamayor in lightweight debut
Forrest dominates Mora in rematch
By Andreas Hale at ringside
Photography by Chris Cozzone
- FightWireImages.com
After losing a controversial decision to Manny Pacquiao earlier in the year, Juan Manuel Marquez could have opted to fight an average boxer—or average champion—to sharpen his skill set. Instead, last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Marquez tested himself and, at the same time, outdid his nemesis Pacquiao by moving up in weight to face the best that the lightweight class had to offer—and he passed with flying red, green and white colors.
On Mexican Independence Day weekend, Marquez provided all the fireworks that were necessary to send his countrymen home happy, by defeating the Ring Magazine world lightweight champion Joel Casamayor via impressive 11th round knockout.
 Casamayor was seven days shy of going 12 years without being knocked out in his professional career—but fate had Juan Manuel Marquez putting a halt to that.
It wasn’t an easy fight, however.
For ten rounds, Marquez and the cagy Cuban veteran provided an intriguing game of chess, with Marquez demonstrating stellar technical skills while Casamayor tried to chip away with a counter left hand. But by round 11, Marquez grew tired of the tactical fight and turned the heat up just high enough to put Casamayor down and out.
Casamayor presented a different type of fight early as Marquez struggled to find openings to land punches. It was simply a much different fight than the one Pacquiao had presented to him. There wouldn’t be a boxer darting in and out while offering multiple counter opportunities. Instead, Casamayor and Marquez would wait for one to make a mistake that the other could take advantage of.
 After three rounds of slow dancing, Marquez finally opened up with a wide array of punches that finally began chipping through Casamayor’s defense. The Cuban proved to be as resilient as he has in past fights by keeping Marquez busy with clinches and the occasional headbutt, while trying to zone in with his left hand. But Marquez slowly negated the left hand, reeling off multiple combinations that kept Casamayor off balance. A hard right hand opened up a cut over the right eye of Casamayor in the fifth and a series of right hands bloodied the nose of the former champ in the sixth.
Scoring the fight proved to be difficult as the judges only agreed on the 5th and 10th rounds that showed Marquez taking the frame. Everything else was all over the place. Even though many at ringside had Marquez ahead on points going into the championship rounds, the judges saw it much closer, which could have caused a hostile environment amongst the 7,882 mostly pro-Marquez fans. Going into the 11th frame, judge Glenn Feldman had Marquez up by a score of 97-93 while both Paul Smith and Patricia Morse Jarman had the fight even at 95.
It was a good thing Marquez didn’t leave it up to the judges.
 As the 11th round opened, Marquez began pressing the action even further as he whipped a left hook to the body and rifled off several combinations. Casamayor’s 37-year-old legs seemed to wobble a bit and Marquez smelled the blood in the water. A straight right at the tail end of a four-punch combination caught Casamayor flush and put him on the seat of his pants. Casamayor would rise with less than 30 seconds left in the round. The two brawled wildly as Casamayor tried to valiantly rally before another straight right hand caught him on the chin and sent him down again. This time he wouldn’t be given the chance to get to his feet again as referee Tony Weeks saw how bad Casamayor was as he crumbled to the mat and waved the fight off at 2:55.
As Marquez and the Mexican contingency erupted in a raucous celebration, the Mexican fighter probably hadn’t realized that he did what both the late Diego Corrales and Acelino “Popo” Frietas, two fighters regarded for their punching power, couldn’t do – knock out Joel Casamayor.
 “It was a great fight and we were prepared. We did what we had to do,” Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) said after the fight. “I wanted to fight for all my Mexican people and I did it!”
A dejected Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 KOs) was almost too emotional to speak.
“I fought like a real champ but Marquez was the best tonight. He knew how to control my punches,” the former lightweight champ said. “Honestly, I’m emotional and I’m thinking the rematch. I had a bad night.”
The victory brought Marquez one step closer to a third fight with recognized No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter Pacquiao, who is set to fight Oscar De La Hoya in December. But if he doesn’t get the Pacman in his next fight, other options at lightweight have presented themselves. Fights against the likes of Juan Diaz and Nate Campbell could prove to be interesting.
“We moved up to get Pacquiao, but we'll fight whoever my promoter (Golden Boy) wants," Marquez said. But for now, Marquez can bask in the fact that he is the champion and made his Mexican fans proud on this Mexican Independence Day.
 Vengeance for Vernon
In the evenings co-feature, Vernon Forrest’s conditioning proved to be the deciding factor as he outlasted Sergio Mora and reclaimed the WBC junior middleweight championship with a unanimous decision victory.
When the two met back in June, Forrest got off to an early start but peppered out midway and was simply outworked by the Latin Snake. This time, the 37-year-old kept the pressure on for 12 rounds and worked his way to a lopsided victory.
Although the Mexican fans chanted for Mora early, Forrest was determined to mount some offense and score early. The game plan worked as Forrest stuffed his jab in Mora’s face from the jump and timed his opponent perfectly with left hooks. Mora attempted to get his jab going but was unsuccessful.
Mora’s head and upper body movement made it difficult for Forrest to find his target but Mora just couldn’t make his opponent pay for his numerous whiffs. Because Mora couldn’t put anything substantial together to make Forrest back off, “The Viper” continued loading up punches and firing them off at will. Early on, Forrest would land hard right hands from a distance that seemed to move Mora around a bit as the Latin Snake tried to work his way inside. In the 7th, a well timed left hook sent Mora tumbling into the ropes as the round closed but referee Jay Nady ruled it a knockdown. Forrest would tire by the 10th round but had built up such an insurmountable lead that it didn’t matter.
 As the scores were read off, Mora readily had an excuse for what happened.
“My weight didn’t come out the way it usually does,” Mora (21-1-1, 5 KOs) said afterwards.“I only had six weeks to train and I usually have 10 It was a short camp and I worked too hard. This guy is old and I should’ve won.”
Mora was alluding to the fact that he came in overweight on the scales Friday and took an hour to finally nail the 154 pound limit. He would call his performance flat but blame it on “losing at the scales.” This was a similar excuse Forrest used when he was defeated by Mora for his titles several months ago.
Regardless of what happened in training, Forrest (41-3, 29 KOs) was elated with his victory.
“Now you see the difference between a contender and a real champion, My better was better than his better,” Forrest said. “I had a bad night. In the last fight I was flat. (Tonight) It was basic boxing 101, jab, jab, jab!”
 Ortiz dismantles Arrieta
Up and coming Jr Welterweight Victor Ortiz was impressive as he dismantled Roberto Arrieta with a 5th round stoppage.
Ortiz stalked his prey and found openings with a sizzling offensive display. After scouting his foe in the first, Ortiz quickly dropped Arrieta early in the 2nd with a hard straight left hand that sent him sprawling into the ropes. The young prospect continued to impose his strength and will as he punished Arrieta whenever he would try to mount some offense.
In the 4th, Ortiz sent Arrieta to the canvas again with a thudding right-left combination that didn’t land clean but still moved his opponent enough to send him off balance and to the mat for the second time.
 After decidedly going into survival mode, Arrieta was met again with a bruising right hook that morphed into a right uppercut and dropped Arrieta for good at 2:25 in the fifth round.
“I’m very happy and totally overwhelmed, but I was my own worst critic tonight,” Ortiz said afterwards. “During the fight (Arrieta) was telling me I was too young and I’d never be the world champion and he was the world champion. In the 5th round I dropped him and said ‘You know what? Now I’m the champion!”
As Ortiz stock continues to rise, it may be time for the young lion to face some of the best the division has to offer.
Ortiz improves his record to 22-1-1 with his 17th knockout of a severely overmatched Arrieta – who falls to 30-14-4.
“I want to get in with some high profile name,” he said regarding his future. “But I don’t want to say any names now because I just won this belt.”
 Perez outworks Garcia
Danny Perez worked behind an effective jab to severely outwork a disinterested Julio Cesar Garcia en route to a dominant unanimous decision in super middleweight action in what can be considered a minor upset.
Judges scored the fight 100-90, 97-93, 99-91 in favor of Perez – who’s most notable fight was a split decision loss to Antonio Margarito.
Perez (33-5 17KO) jumped in as a late replacement for Yory Boy Campas and dominated Garcia for the entire ten round super middleweight bout. Perez had taken a three year hiatus from 2005 until this past July but showed no signs of ring rust as he constantly dusted Garcia with three and four punch combinations.
Once a rising prospect, the 21-year-old Garcia (41-4, 34KOs) who goes by the nickname “Babyface,” fought like an old weathered fighter rather than a contender and constantly languished along the ropes as Perez pounded away at his body. Perez gained confidence behind each jab as Garcia offered nothing in return. A smattering of boos from the Mexican contingency could be heard from the 4th round on as Garcia simply looked as if he didn’t want to be in the ring on this night. Perez, on the other hand, took advantage of the opportunity and reeled off multiple combinations to the head and body of Garcia en route to a surprisingly easy victory.
Yordan decisions Meza
In a highly competitive matchup of featherweights, Indonesia’s unbeaten Daud Yordan came away with a majority decision over Antonio Meza in the eight round battle.
The Indonesian showed a lot of pop in his punches as he fired away at the stalking Antonio Meza throughout. A constant ebb and flow was prevalent until the 8th and final frame when Yordan’s punches seemed to take effect on Meza and stun the fighter throughout the round.
Judges scored the fight 76-76, 78-74, 78-74.
Yordan improves to 15-0 (10 KOs) while Meza drops to 24-5-1 (16 KOs).
Jacobs destroys canvas-diving Espinoza
Unbeaten prospect Daniel Jacobs extended his consecutive knockout streak to nine with a cakewalk TKO victory over Ramon Espinoza in six-round middleweight action.
Jacobs (9-0) entered with a searing blitz that put Espinoza down early and shortly after flattened Espinoza (10-8) with a left hook that caused referee Toby Gibson stopped the bout at :57 in the first.
Garcia straightens Wiggins
In a matchup of jr. welterweights, Danny Oscar Garcia improved to 7-0 with his sixth KO of unheralded Tyrone Wiggins (9-23-1) with a body shot followed by two hard left hooks at 1:04 in the first.
Velasquez stops Navarrete
In the evening’s opening bout, Puerto Rico’s Carolos Velasquez remained undefeated with a 5th round stoppage of Mexico’s Jose Navarrete in 8 round featherweight action. Velasquez – who improves to 9-0 with his eighth KO - came out with guns blazing to begin the 5th and rocked Navarrete (12-18-2) with an uppercut followed by a brutal assault that led to the Mexican taking a knee. Referee Robert Byrd had seen enough and called a halt to the bout at 1:11.
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