GREAT WEEKEND OF BOXING
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 30 Sep 2011
Fight fans will be treated to a weekend of exciting fights that will hopefully make them forget the cheap shot taken by Floyd Mayweather Jr to score a 4th round knockout over unsuspecting Vicious Victor Ortiz.
One of the fights that is certain to interest Filipino boxing fans is the battle between WBC super bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan and Rafael Marquez of Mexico, brother of WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez who faces off with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao in a much-awaited trilogy on November 12 in Las Vegas.
The highly rated weekly boxing show ?The Main Event? will telecast a pre-fight special on the Nishioka-Marquez title fight over AKTV IBC Channel 13 at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told us that he had an agreement for the winner of the Nishioka-Marquez fight to put the super bantamweight title on the line against Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire early next year.
Donaire has said he wants to move up to the 122 pound division which will depend of course on the outcome of his WBC/WBO bantamweight title defense against undefeated two-division world champion Omar Andres Narvaez of Argentina at New York?s Madison Square Garden on October 23, Manila Time.
The southpaw Narvaez has a record of 35 wins with no defeats and 2 draws and although he is 36 years old is an excellent boxer.
On February 12 this year Narvaez successfully defended his WBO super flyweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision over Victor Zaleta in Buenos Aires.
It was a dominating performance by Narvaez who won by a shutout on the scorecards of judges Ramon Cerdan and Cesar Ramos who both scored it 120-107 for the champion and a near shutout on the scorecard of judge Ignacio Robles who had Narvaez the winner 119-108.
In this Sunday?s East meets West showdown at the Marquee ballroom at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nishioka will be making his first appearance in Las Vegas since his 4th round knockout victory over Jose Alonso in 2006.
The 35 year old world champion has a record of 38-4-3 with 24 knockouts.
One of those stoppages was against Filipino Balweg Bangoyan over whom Nishioka scored a 5th round TKO on April 30 last year.
The 36 year old Marquez has a record of 40-6 with 36 big knockouts indicating his punching power which may prove too much for Nishioka.
Marquez is best remembered for his four epic wars with fellow Mexican Israel Vazquez.
It began on March 3, 2007 when Vazquez retired in the 7th round in an action-packed bout at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, California.
In their rematch on August 4, 2007 Vazquez turned the tide and won by a 6th round TKO over Marquez at the Dodge Arena in Texas.
The third encounter between the then WBC super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez was another classic war with VazquezMarquez grabbing the title with a 12th round split decision on March 1, 2008..
In their fourth and final battle at the Staples Center on May 22 last year Marquez evened the count at 2 all with an emphatic 3rd round knockout that put him in line for the title shot against Nishioka.
In the co-main event Nicaragua?s undefeated WBA world light flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez who has a record of 290 with 24 knockouts will face Omar Soto who has a record of 22-7-2 with 15 knockouts.
Last March 19, Gonzalez defended his title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Manuel ?Chango? Vargas who had previously been knocked out by super flyweight champion Nonito Donaire and beaten on points by WBO minimum weight champion Donnie Nietes.
Soto on the other hand dropped a ten round split decision to Brian Viloria, the current WBO super flyweight champion.
Another exciting fight, if challenger Darren Barker is to be believed, will be his middleweight showdown with 2010 ?Fighter of the Year? Sergio ?Maravilla? Martinez.
In a final pre-fight press conference the undefeated European champion Barker said he is in the best shape of his life and that he is ?extremely confident and I say that loudly and boldly. As much as I respect Sergio from the first time I have seen him I know that I have what it takes to pull off the upset.?
Martinez for his part said ?Like always my preparation has been excellent and on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) you will see a very good fight.?
AKTV IBC 13 will telecast the fight on a delayed basis at 9:00 p.m. on action television right after the opening ceremonies of the new PBA season and the game between crowd favorites Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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