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Can a Win Over Pacquiao Finally Get Marquez Respect?…GONZALEZ

Juan Manuel Marquez is a great fighter. Ask anyone who’s ever faced him and they’ll tell you the same. Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs) can box like few can.
The 38 year olds’ counter punching skills have been referred to as brilliant by more than one ringside boxing analyst. He’s won world titles in three different divisions and many believe he’s the only man with the style to defeat Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.
Yet for some reason, his native country of Mexico hasn’t quite embraced him like they have Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales or even Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
The fact that Mexican fans fawn over a relative newcomer like Alvarez must be especially infuriating for Marquez. “What has he done?” Marquez reportedly said of 21 year old Alvarez when he first heard the Guadalajara based red-head was getting a world title shot. “Nothing at all, he’s not even a decent fighter.”
It’s amazing that after fifty nine fights and some mesmerizing performances against the best in the business, Marquez still finds himself defending his career.
It became obvious during one of our conversations that his questionable loss to Chris John in March of 2006 still smarts. John, an Indonesian fighter, was gifted a decision over Marquez in front of his hometown fans and important local politicians. A close look at the video showed Marquez out-boxing and out-working his opponent over twelve rounds. But he couldn‘t escape the heaps of “home cooking” that was dished out “buffet-style” in favor of John. “I clearly won the fight. Chris John didn’t win more than three rounds,” remembers Marquez.
“It was a terrible night for the sport,” said Marquez’s hall of fame trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain. “The evidence is on video. It will always be there. The truth doesn’t hide. Juan Manuel was robbed.”
“It was a huge lesson learned and a setback but my career recovered well,” Marquez said. “Now it’s time to handle this unfinished business with Pacquiao. I have to beat him decisively.”
After twenty four action filled rounds against the man sometimes referred to as “The Mexicutioner”, questions remain as to which fighter is truly superior. There are those who say Pacquiao holds the advantage after having floored Marquez a total of four times in their two fights.
But winning in boxing isn’t just about scoring knockdowns. It’s also about getting up, fighting the smarter fight and finding a way to win. After two thrilling encounters with one draw and one win for Pacquiao, only one point separated the two on the judges’ scorecards. Marquez quickly disagreed with the past punctuations. “You saw the fights? Who do you think won?” he asked. I told him I felt he won at least one of the encounters. “I won both fights especially the second one,” Marquez said. “But this time I can‘t leave any questions unanswered. No way.”
Getting superstar status in the world of boxing is rarely achieved.
Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali achieved it. Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) has reached such stature. The once dirt-poor kid out of Manila deserves the adulation. His career is filled with wins over opponents who were supposed to be too big or too strong for him.
He destroyed them all.
Ricky Hatton, Antonio Margarito, and Miguel Cotto just to name a few. All were physically bigger, former world champions who couldn’t deal with his speed and stinging accuracy. He’s a future hall of famer, a hero to millions and exactly the person Juan Manuel Marquez needs in his life.
For Marquez, beating the Filipino boxing icon would mean finally joining the ranks of the highest regarded warriors in the boxing rich country of Mexico. “I know Mexican fans are tough to please,“ Marquez said. “This is the fight that will take me over the top. Beating Pacquiao will finally get me the respect I deserve.”
Some Mexican fans aren’t so sure Marquez can pull off the feat. “Pacquiao is a monster at this point in his career,” said Miguel Jimenez, a casual follower of boxing from Tijuana. “He’s obliterated everyone in his path. He‘s too fast.”
It’s not an uncommon view among some fans in Mexico who probably know Pacquiao more than their own countryman. The fact that names like “Canelo” Alvarez and the son of Julio Cesar Chavez, Chavez Jr, resonates more than Juan Manuel Marquez to the average Mexican boxing fan is astounding. “I didn’t realize he won three world titles,” stated Jimenez when informed of some of Marquez‘s achievements. “If he wins it would be a great feat and it would get him a lot of respect. I still think Pacquiao will win.”
Ouch.
The significance of the bout isn‘t lost on Marquez. “This fight means everything to me. The money is great but creating a legacy is important. I want the people of Mexico to speak of me with pride,” Marquez reiterated. “It’s been a long road. I’ve been at this all my life and finally I get my chance to prove to the world that I’m one of the all time greats. I still have that need in me to win. I can’t stand losing. It feels ugly when you lose and I hate the feeling. I never want to experience it again. I‘ll make sure it doesn‘t happen on Saturday.”
Pacquiao vs. Marquez III takes place this Saturday November 12 at the M.G.M. Grand in Las Vegas. It will be available on H.B.O. Pay Per View.
Espinoza Boxing Club signs Daniel Ponce De Leon
Former WBO Junior Featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (41-4, 34 KO’s) signed on as part of Frank Espinoza’s well regarded management stable. Espinoza currently manages the career of I.B.F. Bantamweight champion Abner Mares. He’s best known for running the successful career of world titlist Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez. “I feel excited and more motivated than ever,” said Ponce De Leon. “I plan to be a world champion again and Frank’s support will be a huge advantage.”
Espinoza believes De Leon has a strong future ahead of him. “Not only is Ponce championship material, he’s an exciting fighter with punching power. He’s the kind of fighter that fans want to watch. We‘re very happy to have signed Ponce.”
Kirkland vs. Angulo re-match?
If you saw the recent war between James Kirkland and Alfredo “Perro” Angulo on HBO then you would agree it was one of the most exciting and dramatic fights of the year. After being dropped in the opening round, Kirkland rose from the canvas, regained his composure and eventually scored a thrilling stoppage over Angulo.
I say, let Angulo recuperate and regroup for a few months, he fights once more and let’s see a re-match. These are exactly the kind of fights boxing needs in order to gain more fans.
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Twitter: @fightmedia
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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More
It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.
In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.
Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.
CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.
****
Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.
Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”
And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.
Joey Archer
Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer
Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.
Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)
Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.
Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.
In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.
When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.
Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.
May he rest in peace.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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