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Floyd gettin away with highway robbery
For real, life is sweet for Mayweather
2008 NT Boxing Post Vol. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao 12/6/08 HBO PPV
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by theprofessorofpugilism,
- Start date
Floyd gettin away with highway robbery
For real, life is sweet for Mayweather
Super hyped for this one.
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[h1]Vazquez, Marquez set for war … again[/h1]
By Graham Houston
Special to ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: February 27, 2008
Courtesy of Jorge Garcia
With the fight just days away, everyone has Vazquez-Marquez fever -- even Marquez.
Two fights, two wars, and everyone expects more of the same when Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez renew their red-hot rivalry on Showtime on Saturday. After one win each, no one can be sure which of the Mexican 122-pounders will prevail in their championship rubber match. Each fighter has stopped the other. Vazquez scored the only knockdowns in the first two fights but suffered more facial damage. Marquez, 32, believes he lost the rematch by reason of tactical error. Speaking on a telephone conference call, he felt that he got away from a winning strategy and started to fight Vazquez's fight -- one in which punches were exchanged toe-to-toe. This time he promises to be smarter and not give Vazquez a chance to land a decisive punch. Vazquez, meanwhile, never says a lot, but there is always a quiet determination about the 30-year-old defending champion. He believes that by keeping constant pressure on Marquez, he will be able to break down and stop the superior stylist.
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Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages
Both men would like to box more, but it's hard to imagine Marquez, left, and Vazquez not getting into a slugfest at some point during their fight.
"Marquez is going to have to fight me, but I will push him around," Vazquez said after a media workout in Los Angeles this week. "I will put pressure on him to get him off his rhythm, to make him change his strategy. "If he wants to beat me, he has to fight me blow-by-blow. No other way around it. This is one of those fights for which the battle lines were drawn long ago. Vazquez has never been the classiest of boxers, but he can break another man's will with his relentless advance and heavy-handed punching. He will be the aggressor, as ever. Marquez has classic boxing skills and throws his punches with great precision. In a long-range boxing match, Marquez has the clear advantage with his jab, hand speed and combinations. He's intent on putting these tools to good use in the third fight. "I did learn something from the loss," Marquez said. "I learned that for this fight, I need to box intelligently in order to win." It is not going to be easy for Marquez to stick to his textbook boxing, though, against a fighter who will be coming at him and seeking to deny him room to maneuver. At some stage, Marquez probably will find himself obliged to stand and fight, just to keep Vazquez off him, and this is where the fight could turn irrevocably, one way or the other. Sometimes heart and will can overcome greater natural talent, and the perception of this fight is that if Vazquez is to win, he must walk through punishment to outlast and outgame his opponent. In broad terms this is probably true, but technically, Vazquez brings more to the ring than is immediately apparent. His jab, for instance, can be a jarring weapon when he employs it. Vazquez destroyed Ivan Hernandez with the jab, slamming his fellow Mexican's head back and inflicting a fight-ending cut across the bridge of the nose. In all the fire and fury of the first two fights, it is easy to overlook the way Vazquez sometimes jabbed on level terms with Marquez. Although Marquez is rightly seen as the better technician, Vazquez is not just a straight-ahead slugger: He does posses some refinements of technique.
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Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages
Israel Vazquez, right, gave Rafael Marquez all he could handle in their first showdown -- until a broken nose forced him to quit.
Defense, though, is not Vazquez's strong point. He gets hit a lot. Many at ringside in Las Vegas thought he had reached a point of no return when the sharpshooting Jhonny Gonzalez dropped him twice, but Vazquez had landed enough solid hits to slow down his speedier opponent just enough to be able to catch up with him and turn the fight around. That night, it occurred to me how discouraging it must have been for Gonzalez. He had dropped Vazquez with perfect punches, he was outboxing him, and he had enjoyed his biggest round in the sixth. But in the seventh round he left himself open to a right hand and was dropped and hurt; all of a sudden, the tide had turned. Marquez, too, might well enjoy early success on Saturday night, but as long as Vazquez is on his feet, he is going to be dangerous. Boxing a perfect fight against someone such as Vazquez is not an easy thing to do. In fact, fighting Vazquez must be as tiring mentally as it is physically because the other man, even if he is winning rounds, knows that, at any time, one punch can have a disadvantageous impact on the disposition of the contest. So, while Marquez likely will get off to the faster start and do damage early, the question will be whether he can keep the momentum going. Marquez's acclaimed trainer, Nacho Beristain, surely will want him to box a savvy fight, picking his punches and moving off, avoiding heavy involvement until Vazquez has been significantly weakened and bloodied. The rematch showed all too vividly what can happen to Marquez if he gets too ambitious, too soon.
[h3]I never make excuses or blame anybody for what happens to me in the ring. But I lost focus during the last fight.
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-- Rafael Marquez, on what went wrong in his rematch with Israel Vazquez
"I never make excuses or blame anybody for what happens to me in the ring. But I lost focus during the last fight," Marquez said. "I made mistakes I don't usually make. I never leave myself open with my hands down the way I did in our rematch. I had to review the tape to realize the mistakes I made. I didn't do what I had to do in the ring. It was many things." Yet Marquez has long been accustomed to being the puncher in the fight, the stronger man in the ring. As a bantamweight, Marquez was what the boxing trade would call a monster, always looking so much more powerful than his opponents. At 122 pounds, against a strong fighter such as Vazquez, he found himself unable to impose himself physically the way he had in the 118-pound division. In the rematch especially, Marquez hit Vazquez with the sort of shots that would have crumpled many boxers, and it appeared that he committed himself to going all out for an early finish. When Vazquez blazed back, it was too late for Marquez to change course. This time, Marquez will be sent out to box a disciplined, relatively conservative type of fight, taking advantage of every opportunity to punish the slower Vazquez but not unloading his full arsenal until later in the bout. Vazquez, however, will not be cooperating. He will be trying to force Marquez into errors, to hurt him and take him out of his stride as early as possible. Perhaps Vazquez's greatest quality is his ability to endure in a grueling fight. True, he did retire in the first meeting with Marquez, when his nose was broken in the first round and blocked nasal passages greatly restricted his breathing, but I believe he has always regretted this, no matter how prudent the "no mas" decision. When he fought Marquez the second time, it was as if Vazquez was prepared to walk through anything and everything that was thrown at him, as if nothing was going to stop him, and he achieved a memorable victory. If we are to take him at his word, we can expect more of the same in this third fight. "If I had revenge on my mind the second time around, you can bet that now I want to make sure that everybody knows that I am the best of the two," he told the media. If one dares to try to delve into the psychological aspects of the fight, it is unclear whether either man has the clear advantage.
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Photo courtesy of Jorge Garcia
Vazquez is hoping to use more head and body movement to avoid Marquez's heavy shots.
Vazquez, for his part, knows he can knock Marquez down and stop him. No matter how unpromising things might become, that knowledge can keep Vazquez going. Marquez, though, probably feels that he had the fight won last time, only to throw it all away by the reckless impulse to seek a spectacular conclusion. Vazquez's trainer, Rudy Perez (best known for his long association with Marco Antonio Barrera), is trying to get his man to be a bit less available to be hit. But while we might see Vazquez moving his head and upper body more, and keeping a tighter defense, it seems inevitable that he will have to take punches to land his own. Last time, he was able to do this and emerge victorious, in part, perhaps, because Marquez played into his hands -- but this is another fight and not necessarily a continuation of what went before. Expect to see Marquez boxing beautifully and piling up points, but Vazquez has a way of closing in, getting his punches home and making them count. Vazquez was able to take Marquez's best punches in each of the previous bouts, although a hook to the body appeared to affect him in the rematch. But Vazquez does tend to suffer cuts and swelling around the eyes. If Vazquez finds himself bloodied early, it could develop into a race against time should the referee start to get anxious. So a strong case can be made for either man in this fight. Vazquez losing on a cuts stoppage has to be considered a definite possibility, but without the nose injury he might well have won the first fight -- and he got his revenge in the rematch. This time I have the feeling that Vazquez will come through an early shelling and grind out a win in about eight rounds. I think the fight will come down to which of the boxers can better withstand the rigors of battle, and I am guessing that Vazquez will be that man.
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The hype is crazy around this fight. I hope it lives up to it.
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Campbell: Diaz not a demigod!
IBF #1 lightweight and mandatory challenger Nate "Galaxxy Warrior" Campbell is confident going into his match against undefeated unified lightweight world champion Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz on March 8 at Plaza de Torros in Cancun, Mexico.
"I don't want to sound conceited or overconfident but Juan Diaz is not a demigod," Campbell said. "A demigod is half mortal, half god and I just don't see that. Unless my team and I have been in this sport too long-or not long enough-we are seeing a lot of hype."
Campbell (31-5-1, 25 KOs), who is co-promoted by Don King Productions and One Punch Productions, made his comments about Diaz (33-0, 17 KOs) recently while visiting King's South Florida headquarters.
"Take a good look at who this man has fought and ask yourself, 'Who has he fought?' There are lots of fighters out there who throw a lot of punches. I'm going to teach things to Juan that he doesn't want to know. I can stop this man and I don't believe he can beat me."
Campbell is going to get knocked out.
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i don't know about that, but it should be a good fight. Nate is a very good fighter, i'd make him 3rd best at 135 right now behind Katsidis and JuanDiaz. I favor Juan, but Nate will hold his own, i'm fairly confident in that.
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The two fights are up on the showtime website...... Get ready for another war.
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Already on the DVR
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don't know who this guy is anybody know if he is any good?
He's a prospect, don't let the undefeated record fool you, he's never faced a name opponent. What I find funny is that he's amandatory for one of Pavlik's belts. The Middleweight division is horrible. I feel bad for Andy Lee...by the time he gets to the top, they'll be nobodyfor him to face.I see Pavlik going up to 168 by the middle of nextyear.
Robert Guerrero is THAT DUDE.HBO should've picked up that fightfor B.A.D.
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yes, its possible, order showtime tonite, and then cancel it after the fight, they will simply pro rate it for the month. Its a steal when u think about it
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Green not on FNF???
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every black person be doing that !+#! when something on HBO or Showtime got something on we want to watch
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Originally Posted by Stringer Bell 32
Green not on FNF???
Yea, Green's matchmaker said on another site that Allan pulled out of the fight and is back home in Oklahoma. Supposedly its family issues and nothealth related.
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I went to ESPN's boxing section and didn't see a word about it
Oh well.
I'm sure Rafael will cover in tomorrow's chat
Oh well.
I'm sure Rafael will cover in tomorrow's chat
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From Rafael's Notebook:
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[h1]Shaw: 'This may go down as the greatest'[/h1]
By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: February 29, 2008
Tom Casino/Showtime
Don't blink: Vazquez, left, and Marquez can change the course of a fight with one punch.
[h3]Vazquez, Marquez ready to rumble again[/h3] In 2007, junior featherweight champ Israel Vazquez and former champ Rafael Marquez waged two hellacious battles. Marquez won the 122-pound title in March via a seventh-round TKO in a fight that ended when his Mexican countryman retired on his stool, unable to breathe because of a severely broken nose. It was such an electrifying fight that many immediately declared that it would win fight of the year honors -- even though nine months remained in the year. It may have indeed won, but in August, Marquez and Vazquez met again. This time, Vazquez reclaimed the title with a sixth-round TKO in a fight that was even more exciting and dramatic than the duo's first encounter. Several media outlets, including ESPN.com, Ring magazine and Yahoo! Sports, honored the rematch as fight of the year. The fight's third round also was heralded as round of the year. Now, it's trilogy time.
Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages
Can Marquez and Vazquez repeat the theatrics of their first two fights?
Like the epic three-fight series between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield and Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, the Vazquez and Marquez series is poised to take its place in the pantheon of all-time trilogies. Few expect anything less than another slugfest when they meet again on Saturday night (Showtime, 9 ET/PT) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., the site of their first classic. "I don't think this trilogy in my mind can be compared to anything," said Gary Shaw, who handles Marquez and promoted all three fights. "I think this may go down as the greatest -- we won't know obviously until after [Saturday]. But, if I know both fighters like I think I do, and I know the camps and the trainers and everyone else, I believe that this might go down as the greatest trilogy of all time." Said Marquez: "This fight definitely has the possibility of being better than the last two." As they did before each of the first two bouts, both fighters are promising another memorable collision. "Please don't miss this fight. It is going to be a war," said Marquez, the former bantamweight champion and younger brother of junior lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez. "The first two fights were wars, and this is going to be a classic battle." Said Vazquez: "Fans will be treated to a spectacular show. I know a lot of boxers say that to hype up a fight, but I think it means a little more when I say it. The proof is in our last two fights. Everyone loved those battles and everyone will love our third fight, too." Shaw, who has been involved with boxing since the early 1970s, said he'll never forget their fights.
Tom Casino/Showtime
In their first encounter, both fighters came out swinging, but Vazquez, right, got the worst of it.
"I don't want to get emotional and I don't want to talk like a promoter, but I believe this trilogy will be a part of history," Shaw said. "I can tell you at the end of the round of the year of the second fight, what I will remember is [copromoter] Scott Woodworth [of Sycuan] behind me banging me on my shoulder pulling me up by my neck off the chair, saying, 'Can you believe this? Can you believe this?' Now, that's a promoter of the opponent to my fighter. We are against one another, and he's banging me and lifting me up and can't believe it. "I will always have memories of these two fighters that have huge hearts. I did the first Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fight when I was with Main Events. Not taking anything away from Arturo Gatti or Micky Ward, but when they had that trilogy they were not A-plus fighters. These are A-plus fighters." Nacho Beristain, who trains Marquez, doesn't expect Saturday's fight to be much different from the previous two. "I don't see anything that's going to be a difference. It's going to be a war," he said. "The first two fights were wars, and I don't see this third one any different. They are going to give everything in the ring, and I'm just hoping that Marquez makes a little bit different fight than he did in the second one so we can [win]." One of the endearing elements about the Vazquez-Marquez rivalry is the respect they have shown for each other through all three promotions. Instead of becoming bitter and nasty toward each other, like Ali and Frazier and Barrera and Morales, they've been sportsmen. "Deep down in my heart, I know and believe I am going to win by knockout Saturday night," said Vazquez, who aspires to unify 122-pound belts or move up to challenge featherweight titlist Jorge Linares if he wins. "I have the utmost respect for Marquez -- everybody knows that -- but in the ring it is a totally different story. I have to win by knockout. There is no other option. This is a very important fight for boxing, but it is more important for my career and my legacy. This fight will go down in history. When they mention Marquez's name, my name will be tied to him because of the legendary trilogy that we fought against each other." Said Marquez, "There is no bad blood between Vazquez and myself. We are professionals and we want the same thing, to win fights and world championships." [h3]Diaz eyes Pacquiao[/h3]
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
David Diaz has one eye on the lightweight prize.
Lightweight titlist David Diaz and junior lightweight star Manny Pacquiao are on a collision course to meet this summer in Macau, China, but both have critical bouts before then. Pacquiao, of course, faces 130-pound titleholder Juan Manuel Marquez in a much-anticipated rematch of their wild 2004 draw on March 15 (HBO PPV) at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay. Diaz is on the pay-per-view in a nontitle bout against little-known Ramon Montano in order to keep him fresh for the possible Pacquiao fight. Diaz said that he hasn't let the possibility of a Pacquiao bout detract from his preparation for Montano. "I'm sure Montano is preparing for the fight of his life. It's his opportunity of a lifetime," Diaz said. "As for me, when we touch gloves before the fight, we're going to do what we do and see who's the better fighter. Bottom line is I know I must beat Montano to get a shot at Pacquiao." Still, Diaz is looking forward to facing one of the best in the business. "I know the deal. If I beat Montano and Manny beats Marquez, he's going to move up to 135 to try and take my title," Diaz said. "Good for him. I like the fact that he wants to fight for my title. If we both win on March 15, I'll be the first one to meet him at the postfight press conference to welcome him to 135. As far as I'm concerned, they can officially announce the fight right then and there. "He wants to move up and try to continue collecting belts, and I want to test myself against the very best -- and that's what they call him. He beat Barrera twice, Morales twice, already has the draw with Marquez, beat Velasquez, Larios and Solis. He's been on quite a run; if he beats Marquez, maybe he's the best fighter in boxing." [h3]Toney trudging on[/h3]
Kevin Terrell/WireImage.com
You haven't seen the last of James Toney.
Although British media this week jumped all over the prospect of heavyweight James Toney (70-6-3, 43 KOs) heading to England to face former title challenger (and Mike Tyson conqueror) Danny Williams this spring, that is merely one of several bouts being discussed for Toney, promoter Dan Goossen told ESPN.com. "I've had conversations about a Williams fight in England, but I've also had conversations with a promoter in Russia and one from South Africa," Goossen said. "We'll go for the biggest fight." Goossen said the proposed bout in Russia would pit Toney against Dennis Bakhtov (26-5, 16 KOs). The match in South Africa would come against Francois Botha in May. Another possibility is a rematch of a draw with ex-champ Hasim Rahman, Goossen said. Rahman manager Steve Nelson said they've discussed the fight, which could take place overseas. "I have to see what's real and then make a decision with James," Goossen said. "None of these fights are done, but we'll get something done. James would rather fight in the United States, but I told him, if I have to sit next to him to keep his nerves down on the plane, I will because he hates to fly." Toney, a former three-division champion, hasn't fought since May, when he outpointed Dan Batchelder. However, they both tested positive for steroids afterward and were suspended. It was Toney's second steroid-related suspension.
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Pro did you catch that Guerrero v. Litzau fight last night? I figured Litzau was going to get knocked out but it was definitely an entertaining fight up untilthat point.
Heading out tonight so I have Marquez v. Vazquez ready to go on the DVR and to watch hammered when I get home.
Have a good night fellas.
Heading out tonight so I have Marquez v. Vazquez ready to go on the DVR and to watch hammered when I get home.
Have a good night fellas.
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Wow, Vasquez v Marquez III tonight and this is on the 2nd pg?...
It's just amazing to me how few boxing fans there are these days....it's a shame too, bc a lot of ppl are missing out on some good fights...
It's just amazing to me how few boxing fans there are these days....it's a shame too, bc a lot of ppl are missing out on some good fights...
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Robert Guerrero is nice. I love watching dude fight. The combinations he threw on those 2 knockdowns were beautiful, and the KO was VICIOUS
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Ok, Im ready ....
Lets get it Marquez
Lets get it Marquez
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somebody keep me updated on what's going on I don't have showtime i have HBO.
Prediction Rafael wins by KO round 8.
Prediction Rafael wins by KO round 8.
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GREAT 1st ROUND. Marquez did soem damage but got caught wiht a Hook and legs looked shaky. I got Rafael winning Round 1 ...
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*PS... I think this the 3rd time ever in my life Ive rooted for a mexican Fighter (
yea they're both mexican )
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*PS... I think this the 3rd time ever in my life Ive rooted for a mexican Fighter (
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Thanks Gunna is this the main event already?
