Marquez Wants New Champ Caballero

Bantam and super bantamweight champions’ war of words

No sooner did Celestino Caballero (25-2, 18 KOs) of Panama win the WBA super bantamweight title with a crushing third round stoppage of Somsak Sithchatchawal (46-1-1) in Thailand than bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez started making noise about moving up in weight to 122 to fight Caballero.

Caballero is unbeaten in his last six fights with four of those wins coming by KO. He is also the only man to hold a W over Daniel Ponce De Leon, so when he heard Marquez’s carefully worded challenge, he had some carefully worded challenging words of his own.

I’ve heard what Marquez has said about me, Caballero said, and I just want to make one thing clear: he is not the hunter, I am the hunter.

If Marquez’s fists are able to back up his mouth, I will be more than willing to send him back to 118 pounds with his tail between his legs. My promoters, Seminole Warriors Boxing Promotions and Sycuan Ringside Promotions, have already approached Marquez’s promoter Gary Shaw, and he knows where to reach my people.

I respect Marquez’s accomplishments as a bantamweight, but at 122 pounds he will merely be a boy playing with men.