MARQUEZ AWESOME IN PUBLIC WORKOUT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 22 Feb 2008
The public workout of WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez has been described it as "awesome" by respected boxing writer and TV reporter James Blears who watched the workout at the Romanza Gym in Mexico City.
Blears email to Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today came one day after Top Rank promoter Bon Arum who watched Pacquiao train at Freddie Roach?s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles said the Filipino ring idol was "unbelievable" and that when he trains hard and is focused as he is right now, "nobody in the world can beat him." Roach said Pacquiao?s daily workouts have been "fantastic" and that he is as sharply focused as when he demolished Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera in eleven rounds in San Antonio, Texas in November 2003.
According Blears, Marquez who has a trio of southpaws to sharpen him up for the March 15 rematch with Pacquiao conceded that the Filipino southpaw is now "a two handed fighter and he hits hard" but that he was "not going to be surprised and caught out by his left as happened in their first fight" in May 2004 when Marquez was dropped three times in the opening round by Pacquiao?s devastating left.
Marquez said "I?m going to use my power, aggression, work rate and all my technical skills on March 15. My psychology is preparation, condition and my punches."
Blears reported that the first sparring partner in the public workout which was watched by WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman and Golden Boy Promotions vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez was Japanese super lightweight Norio Kimura (33-5-2, 17 KO?s) who is ranked No. 7 by the WBC. He said Marquez "repeatedly caught Kimura with straight rights and left-right combinations in two intense rounds Juan cleverly moved anti-clockwise away from Norio?s long sneaky right leads and dodged or smothered sweeping wide-angled left hooks."
Against lanky Venezuelan featherweight Rafael Fernandez who has 10 wins all by knockout against 2 losses, Marquez went one round and according to Blears "swiftly cut down the reach disparity with deft ring-craft" and jolted the Venezuelan?s head-guard with "pinpoint hooks and uppercuts and then cracking him with crunching body shots as the two leaned on each other, fighting telephone booth style."
The last fighter to step up against Marquez was stocky and heavily muscled Nicaraguan super bantamweight Eusebio Osejo Cano (18-4, 9 KO?s) who often matched Marquez blow-for-blow. Blears told us that both fighters "unloaded a blinding head-hunting flurry of combinations in the last ten seconds of their action-packed round."
Marquez who started training before Christmas looked "ripped and ready" and weighed 132 pounds. Brimming with confidence, Marquez said "I am 34 years old but I feel 25 and as far as experience is concerned I?m as smart as a 48 year old. The important thing for me is supreme conditioning and I?m in the best shape of my entire career because for me, this is the most important fight of my career."
Marquez told Blears, "Manny knows what he personally has to do to prepare because this isn?t going to be an easy fight for him. I think I have a great opportunity to win and I have worked three months to this effect. My sparring with the southpaws has gone really well and I am very happy with the way it?s sharpened me up. I?ve already given one hundred percent in training and on fight night I?m going to give much more."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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