The good news is that Juan Manuel Marquez will forego retirement. His tactical skill is an ongoing example of how a master craftsman never lets his attention stray from detail. He counters chaos with smarts. Marquez is a lesson for young prospects, old writers and just about anybody else with a job to do.
The bad news is that Marquez’ decision to fight on is more perilous than promising in his quest for a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.
“The main reason for me to continue is that I want a rematch with Manny,’’ Marquez said Wednesday in conference call for his April 14 fight with Sergey Fedchenko in Mexico City. “…I think I won the last fight.’’
So do a lot of other people, including the one seated in this corner. Marquez was a 115-113 winner here and on many other unofficial scorecards last November at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. But the crowd that argued for Marquez and against Pacquiao’s escape with a majority decision has moved on, or back to where it has been all along.
Talk about Pacquiao-versus-Floyd Mayweather Jr. covers the sport like perpetual smog. It just won’t clear. Leave it to someone else to condemn the speculative pollution or decide whether the fight will ever happen. While you’re at it, leave me some nausea medicine. It’s sickening, but it’s there, nonetheless. It was there all over again Wednesday.
“I have to be realistic about this,’’ said Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who has the Filipino Congressman in tough on June 9 against Tim Bradley. “I don’t think that Mayweather will be available in the fall to fight Manny. He certainly doesn’t indicate that he wants to fight Manny. I think everyone would be better off if we thought about that fight for next year. But everything is open. First of all, Manny has a really tough fight with Bradley and secondly, everybody would certainly agree that Juan Manuel deserves a rematch.’’
But it is a rematch that Marquez deserves now, not at some speculated date that hinges on him overcoming a presumed tune-up against Fedchenko in his hometown and then a very dangerous Brandon Rios, who faces Yuriorkis Gamboa stand-in Richard Abril at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, also on April 14, in a pay-per-view doubleheader produced by Top Rank and distributed by HBO.
“Everybody knows I was looking for the rematch with Manny but I don’t know what happened,’’ Marquez said. “The most important thing is I like to fight and I will fight on April 14. I am very happy about that. But I don’t know what happened with the rematch.’’
What happened is this: The public and media interest in Pacquiao-Mayweather suffered, yet remained at the top of the agenda despite a second rematch in which Marquez again showed he can beat Pacquiao. Despite a very good argument that Marquez beat the Filipino twice after a draw in the first bout, there is still a bigger market for Pacquiao-Mayweather than there is for Marquez-Pacquiao IV.
Now, here’s what could happen: As expected Marquez beats Fedchenko and Rios overwhelms Abril, an unknown Cuban. Then, Marquez and Rios fight.
“We are holding Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the match if we make it,’’ Arum said. “But one step at a time. July 14 is the date we are holding it for.’’
Manager Cameron Dunkin looks at Rios and thinks of Johnny Tapia.
“I love what I do,’’ Rios said. “A lot of fighters do it for a job. I do it because I love it. It’s my high. It’s like my Ritalin. I am very hyper and it calms me down a lot. If I didn’t do this I don’t know where I would be right now. I think I’d be locked up.’’
Translation: Beware.
The 25-year-old Rios has dangerous energy and enough larceny in his heart to end the Marquez pursuit of a rematch. Marquez, 38, could go the way Erik Morales, 35, did on March 24 against 24-year-old Danny Garcia in Houston.
Despite being three years younger, Morales has suffered more wear, tear and scarring in his career than Marquez ever did. Also, Rios, who is poised to move up in weight to 140 pounds after losing his lightweight title for failing to make the 135-pound limit in December, possesses more explosive skill than Garcia. But Garcia-Morales serves as a road sign, a warning for Marquez, if he were to face Rios in another bout between the best of an aging generation and the cutting edge of a new one.
AZ NOTES
· Junior-welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. plans to test his right hand in limited work Monday at Central Boxing in downtown Phoenix. Benavidez underwent surgery on his right wrist, which was injured in November on the undercard of Pacquiao’s victory over Marquez. The cast was removed about two weeks ago. He has been undergoing rehab. “We’ll just do some light stuff to see how the right hand feels,’’ dad-and-trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. said.
· Antonio Margarito’s comeback at Tucson’s Casino del Sol on May 26 is close to a formal announcement. An opponent has yet to be found, but the casino and Margarito’s manager, Showdown Promotions, have agreed to the date and terms. TV Azteca also plans to televise. The bout, Margarito’s first since a rematch loss to Miguel Cotto in December, is scheduled for Casino del Sol’s outdoor arena. A Margarito bout at the southern Arizona venue promises to be the biggest draw there since Fernando Vargas attracted an overflow crowd of more than 5,000 in 2003 for a seventh-round stoppage of Tony Marshall.
· The Margarito bout figures to cap off a busy Arizona spring, including two cards in Phoenix and two in southern Arizona. On April 12, Phoenix super-bantamweight Alexis Santiago will be featured at El Zaribah Shrine on 40th Street in east Phoenix on a card (7:30 p.m. first bell) put together by Alma Canez of Estrella Promotions. Iron Boy Promotions follows on April 21 at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix with a hybrid card that will include an amateur bout featuring 15-year-old David Benavidez, who – yes — has sparred with his older brother, Jose Jr. On May 4, boxing is back at Desert Diamond Casino south of Tucson on a card put together by Michelle Rosado of Face II Face Promotions. Who said boxing was dead in Arizona?
Photo by Chris Farina /Top Rank
