In an era with 85 ?major? championship belts stretched across 17 weight classes, the old riddle of what separates a champion from a perennial contender has lost some of its snap. But it?s an idea whose importance is not diminished by its technical irrelevance.
Last Saturday at Tucson?s Desert Diamond Casino, WBC super featherweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez fully explored what elements separate a champion from a challenger while decisively outpointing Rocky Juarez by scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111. It was Marquez?s first defense of a belt he took from Marco Antonio Barrera in March. And it was Juarez?s fourth failed world-title challenge.
At the highest levels of professional sport, there are wholes that are more than the sum of their parts. Whether it?s a case of individual athletes or the teams they compose, there are tangible measurements that in some instances perform better than most analyses can anticipate.
In prizefighting, one such measurement is hand speed. Positioned in front of a heavy bag, would Marquez be able to throw more punches in five seconds than Juarez? Possibly. But the difference would be negligible. Yet, Saturday night, Marquez?s jab regularly arrived before Juarez?s did.
Some of that was positioning, but much of it was how a championship prizefight affects its participants.
After his fighter had successfully defended the super featherweight title, Hall of Fame trainer Nacho Beristain said of Marquez, ?He did what was planned. Exactly how it was planned.?
A second element in Marquez?s decisioning of Juarez was technique. Juarez, a specialist at throwing compact and devastating hooks, never found the right range and rhythm for his punches. At first he was too far from Marquez, then in an instant he was too close. When Marquez was open, Juarez was out of position. And when Juarez was in position, Marquez was not open. That was neither an accident nor a case of bad luck.
?Was I worried? Why, yes!? said Beristain. ?You all do not appear to know how hard Rocky punches. Our strategy was always to prevent his big punch from arriving.?
Then there was Marquez?s audacity. How a fighter finishes a combination ?whether or not he pulls the trigger on the fourth or fifth punch ? is a question of will that considers the consequences of his opponent?s reply. How a fighter begins a combination, though, is a matter of audacity.
While Juarez worked in a traditional way behind his jab, Marquez often lead with hooks and uppercuts. Most audacious of all was a right uppercut lead he threw in round eight. To execute this punch, Marquez dropped his right hand to waist level and tilted away from his left hand. In the instant he began the punch forward, Marquez stood with 30 inches between his hands and his chin in the perilous open air.
But the punch landed and took two effects. It hurt Juarez, and caused him to frown and apparently ask, ?How did I let Marquez hit me with that??
Speed, technique and audacity, then, were three tangible elements Marquez imposed on Juarez. And the sum of these tangibles was an intangible thing boxing aficionados call class.
Juarez may have lacked Marquez?s class, but he demonstrated ample quantities of an intangible called heart.
Cut deeply over his left eye by a collision of heads in the first round, Juarez nevertheless traded punches with one of the world?s three best prizefighters for another 34 minutes. Asked in the press room if he considered having his corner stop the match because of the cut, Juarez gave a telling answer:
?There was so much blood on [Marquez] that I kept looking for a cut on him. But it was my blood. I was using the blood on him as a way of seeing how bad my cut was. I was so afraid they might stop [the fight].?
How much blood was streaming from above Juarez?s eye? At one point late in the fight, a Marquez right hand landed flush on the cut and sent enough blood flying into Marquez?s eye that he actually had to blink a few times to clear it. Through all that, Juarez?s greatest concern was that he might not be allowed to continue to fight.
In world title bouts, Juarez?s record now stands at 0-4. But he is so game and so determined that as long as he doesn?t get discouraged, he?ll likely have two or three more chances.
Marquez, meanwhile, has only one chance in mind: To avenge his 2004 draw with 130-pound king Manny Pacquiao. This was made clear after the fight, by promoter Oscar de la Hoya and Marquez himself. But when De la Hoya and Marquez?s tireless references to the Filipino icon were somehow inadequate, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer stepped to the podium and said of a Marquez-Pacquiao rematch, ?We have the date reserved, which is March 15th of next year.?
Truth is, Marquez needs this match much more than Pacquiao does. Though Marquez sits only one slot behind Pacquiao in most experts? pound-for-pound rankings, he also commands about a fifth the fight purse Pacquiao does. In fact, for Saturday?s effort as the WBC champion, Marquez made only $500,000 ? merely 25% more than his challenger made.
Can Marquez beat Pacquiao? Absolutely. It should be a world class fight that pits Marquez?s total package of class against Pacquiao?s unsurpassed speed and power. So, for a small hint at how Marquez can beat Pacquiao, we turn once more to Beristain:
?Juan has to create space. He has to box to create open space. Then he has to counterpunch when [Pacquiao] tries to close that space.?
If and when it happens, Marquez-Pacquiao II will feature two great fighters in a match that determines a true world champion. Such spectacles are increasingly rare, and we need to embrace them when they happen.
