[BOXING] My report on the Raul Marquez fight in Pasadena Convention Center

The return of Raul Marquez

In sports, there are those athletes that hang on, wishing for one last gasp of a glorious past, a flash of past brilliance. They are comparable to addicts, but their drug is the roar of the crowd, the adrenaline rush of victory. In boxing especially, those athletes are unfortunately plenty. Senior citizens such as Evander Holyfield fight on, and before him Larry Holmes, Julio Cesar Chavez, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, and even “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali hung on until the bitter end, far into what should have been retirement. However, boxing is not like other games, you are beat up while you participate, and years of punishment accumulate to have irreversible effects on the brain. Ali is the perfect example, as he now suffers from Parkinson’s disease, a bitter irony for who was once the most talkative of men.

Which brings us to Raul Marquez. Stubbornness seems to be a trait that helps boxers reach the top, but it is the same trait that gives them a false hope of further success. Marquez is hoping for a title shot, yet it has been 9 years since he had the right to be called as such. In a winter war in 1997, Yory Boy Campos handed him an 8 round thrashing and took the IBF Junior Middleweight Championship. Since that night, Marquez has never been the same. Serious boxing fans knew he was done as a serious contender after being beaten around the ring for 11 rounds by Fernando Vargas in the summer of 1999. Coincidentally, Campos is still fighting as well, a shell of his former self. This author prays John Duddy doesn’t punish him too badly on September 29.

On this night, in Pasadena, TX, the crowd was stoked. It’s not often serious fights are put on in Houston, but this is the second Top Rank card in a month put on in the Pasadena Convention Center, a good sign. It was being run in association by a local promoter, a tall, rugged tycoon named Bobby Jones. Throughout the night, he sauntered around the arena in a black suit with white undershirt, black cowboy hat on his head, thanking fans for coming. The crowd was majority Mexican, which was to be expected, Bob Arum knows the bulk of the boxing community seems to be Hispanic, especially hardcore fans. The fans were loose, cracking jokes en Espanol, usually one hand had a cell phone, the other a beer. Miller Lite, that is, as they were sponsoring the show, and also brought three lovely ring card girls to the ring.

Ring announcer Rudy Hernandez finally let the fans know the first bout of the night was about to begin. Jesus “El Martillo” Gonzales (18-1, 11 KO), a young prospect from Phoenix, was facing off against a journeyman by the name of Ramon Espinoza (8-6, 3 KO). Gonzales was once on the fast track to success, until he bumped into a 160-pound roadblock named Jose Luis Zertuche and was knocked out in 8 rounds in September of 2005. Since then, Gonzales is slowly attempting to build back confidence, taking fights such as this, his second fight in Houston in a month. From the opening bell, it was obvious Espinoza had no chance. Gonzales seemed hesitant as well, his confidence obviously still shaky since the Zertuche fight. The only entertainment from this bout was from a fan in the stands, making hilarious remarks one after another. “Pick up the pace Gonzales!” “No le duelen!” “Easy money!” “No coras, alli alli, that is what I’m talking about!” What was also obvious is that the referee had some disdain for Espinoza, for no apparent reason. He continually warned Espinoza, poor Ramon had no chance. Finally, in the 3rd round Gonzales let loose with a 3 punch combination. Espinoza was wobbled, Gonzales saw it and put down Espinoza with a lead left uppercut, a thunderous shot. Espinoza gathered his senses and made it back up, and referee Ronnie Ralston gave the standard eight count. Then, out of nowhere, he stopped the fight. The crowd hissed and booed, Gonzales’s corner celebrated, and Espinoza could simply smile. The official time was 2:32.

A mustached man approached the ring, wearing the colors of Mexico. His name was Manuel Sarabia, another journeyman (15-17-6, 10 KO). His opponent was a local prospect, a Houstonian by the name of Benjamin Flores (11-2, 4 KO). Flores’s story is similar to that of the aforementioned Gonzales, an undefeated prospect who was beaten when facing a higher level of competition. As an 11-0 undefeated prospect, Juan Ramon Cruz stopped him in January of this year in four rounds. Then in May, he was completely outclassed in his hometown, by a Mexican prospect of the same age named Eduardo Escobedo. Flores’s career was heading downhill, so the prospect was put in against a worn opponent, a solution to his problem. Unfortunately, Sarabia came to fight. On his way to the ring, he was shadowboxing, showing quick hands, this was going to be no easy work for Flores. Flores had a distinct similarity in look and style to Juan Diaz, a vicious body puncher. Yet, for every combination, Sarabia returned in kind. The fans were behind Flores. “Vamos Chiquito! No le duelen, no le duelen!” Flores’s body punching began to show effects, Sarabia dropped his hands after being hit to the body. Unfortunately, like Juan Diaz, Flores had no one punch power. He unmercifully was beating Sarabia like a rag doll, but had no power to stop him. Sarabia was fighting back hard, nailing counter uppercuts and hooks, but he could not keep Flores off of him. This lack of power will hurt Flores in the future, but tonight he had enough. Flores won via unanimous decision, 59-55, 59-55, 58-56.

Rudy Hernandez announced the main event was on the way, the crowd was antsy. Elco Garcia (18-5, 8 KO) walked to the ring first, a hardened man who looked like a man who built railroads, not a pinch of fat on his body. He once gave Vernon Forrest all he could handle before being hit with a punch he never saw and stopped. Garcia is a bricklayer in Colorado, so it is to no wonder his muscles have muscles. Then Marquez (37-3, 26 KO) walked to the ring, to the roar of the crowd. Accompanied by Ronnie Shields, he looked all business. Marquez was a star amateur, he fought in the 1992 Summer Olympics, representing the United States until losing to Orhan Delibas. Delibas went on to be a solid fighter, but was knocked out into retirement ungratefully by the great Russian light middleweight Roman Karmazin in 2000. The formalities were over, and the main event was ready to begin. Marquez came out of his corner fast, but threw few punches, as did Garcia. For the first minute, they simply glanced at each other tentatively, too cautious to throw punches. “Como bailarte!” The crowd was not happy. They would remain this way for the first six rounds. It was at times a dirty fight, head butts, pushing and shoving, fighting at close quarters. Marquez landed sharp punches, but Garcia always answered with looping shots. At times it seemed Marquez would be better off announcing for HBO Latino than fighting. Marquez had a cut on the right side of his face, no surprise for the most cut fighter since Arturo Gatti. His face was reddening, Garcia’s punches were having their effects. As each round passed by, Marquez laid in shots to the body, fans wondered why he didn’t go for the head, but Marquez had a master plan.

Nobody knew who was winning the fight, Marquez was landing sharp punches but not one of them backed Garcia up, and Garcia always had an answer. Looping lefts and rights thudded off Marquez’s head, as if in slow motion, this fight wasn’t so bad after all. In the seventh round, Marquez landed an absolutely vicious body shot, and Garcia went down. A right hand to the body and Garcia had the wind knocked out of him. There was no way he could make it up, but he tried as hard as he could. Referee Sam Garza waved it off at 6 and Garcia stumbled into his corner and fell on his stool. Ronnie Shields leapt into the ring and hugged Marquez, the crowd erupted, and Marquez was vindicated, at least for tonight.

Notes From Around The Ring:

In the greatest fight this author has ever seen, a boxer from Belize by way of San Antonio, Michael Soberanis (7-12-1, 0 KO) was robbed silly against undefeated prospect from Mexicali, Ivan “Chicanito” Alvarez (8-0, 7 KO). It was quickly apparent Soberanis was no joke, he landed shots in between the guard of Alvarez in the opening seconds. In response, Alvarez lifted his hands and asked for more, as if he was the second coming of Ricardo Mayorga. Soberanis answered, by putting down Alvarez with a straight right. Alvarez quickly got up, but just as quickly was knocked down again by a quick left hook, this time he didn’t make it up so quickly. In the second, Alvarez put down Soberanis with a barrage of punches against the ropes and roared. Soberanis got back up and fought the rest of the round with no ill effects. In the third, Alvarez continued to lift his hands and ask for more, so Soberanis complied and landed a hard straight right and Alvarez was down again. “Chicanito” was looking like “quijada de crystal.” Suddenly, Alvarez’s trash talk was nowhere to be seen. For the last three rounds, Soberanis outboxed a wounded, shocked Alvarez, but the crowd knew if he didn’t knock out Alvarez he would not walk out with a victory. He was fighting a Mexican fighter in a Mexican town, even three knockdowns would not be enough. Unfortunately, this nightmare became reality as somehow the judges had it a draw. The one with sense, called it 59-55 for Soberanis, but the other two had it 55-55, a draw. So to them Soberanis lost round four, five, and six. Reasons like this are why boxing is a joke to mainstream, obvious bribing of judges and rampant corruption are just lowering it slowly, while other sports take what was once the king sport of America. At one time, 100,000 fans watched Joe Louis defeat Max Schmeling in Yankee Stadium while millions more listened on the radio. Thank Frankie Carbo, Blinky Palermo, Bob Arum, Don King and others for turning this once great sport into a cartel.

In attendance were Juan Diaz, Rocky Juarez, Jose Diaz, and WBO Heavyweight Champion. As for Juarez’s future plans, well, let him tell you himself. "I am going to fight in February. I want to go back to 126 and win a belt then go back to 130 and see what happens. Barrera is not going to give me a rematch right now. I am not quitting until I get a title!" As for Serguei Lyakhovich, he looked very fit and strong in advance of his defense against Shannon Briggs. He has the look of a wolf, Briggs will be in for a shellacking in Arizona.