Throughout their distinguished professional careers, the toughest opponents for Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez – who co-headline this Saturday night’s edition of Showtime Championship Boxing (9 pm ET/PT) at the MontBleu Resort and Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada – may not have been Manny Pacquiao, Derrick Gainer, Tim Austin or Mark Johnson.
It may have been their own management.
Despite being perhaps the most formidable brother combo in the history of the sport, they seemingly have fallen short of the stardom and riches you would have thought was guaranteed for them.
They both have immense natural talent, a strong work ethic, impressive resumes, pleasing – if not colorful – personalities, and they’re Mexican to boot.
So why hasn’t this formula worked?
Why are they underrated and underappreciated, instead of superstars like their countrymen, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera?
“It’s a tough question,” says Gary Shaw, who’s promoting this upcoming show and has inked Rafael, the reigning IBF bantamweight titlist, to a promotional contract. “I don’t like to knock another promoter, but they weren’t kept in front – it may not be the promoter, it may be the management, it could be a combination – and you need to be on TV and you need to fight the right opponents.”
Their last promoter was Bob Arum, and what Shaw was most likely alluding to was that in the Top Rank galaxy, the stars that were the brightest were those of Morales, Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya during their time with Arum’s promotional outfit. But on their own end, they may have been irreparably damaged by the stubbornness of their trainer/manager Nacho Beristain. Lauded as perhaps the sport’s best teacher, he is also known as perhaps boxing’s worst business representative.
It seems his autocratic ways and unrealistic view of the marketplace have led to the Marquez brothers – especially Juan Manuel, who not too long ago was a unified champ – to be on the outside looking in.
“There was never any rational aspect of what he was doing,” said a still-flummoxed Arum, regarding that relationship. “And I couldn’t get through; I was doing everything through Fernando Beltran, but everyone has trouble with the guy.”
Early last year, a proposed deal was on the table for Marquez to rematch versus Pacquiao (they had fought to an exciting draw in April of 2004), but instead of taking the $750,000 payday – and more importantly the opportunity and exposure it could have brought – Beristain reportedly demanded $1.5 million (which was the license fee from HBO for both sides to split).
Instead, Morales and Pacquiao would engage in a two-fight series that has further lined the pockets of ‘El Terrible’ and ascended ‘the Pac Man’ to an ever higher level of iconic status. The highly anticipated rubbermatch is set for November 18th.
As for Marquez?
Well, he would soon lose both his titles without stepping into the ring, and this past March he would go to Indonesia and attempt to win back his WBA strap from Chris John for around $30,000. He would proceed to lose a highly questionable verdict.
“We knew it was going to be a possibility,” said Arum of that situation. “I mean, why the hell is he going to fight in the jungle? The food’s different, everything’s different. And for that small amount of money? I just couldn’t believe he even did it. We offered to bail them out and do the fight in the United States and he turned it down.”
It was at that juncture that Arum completely gave up any hopes of reconciliation with Beristain and the brothers.
“It was too much aggravation dealing with this guy,” he says. “And the thing that’s so frustrating is that the brothers are really nice kids.”
Shaw agrees that passing on the Pacquiao rematch was a huge mistake.
“Absolutely, both for the money and the fact that I believe he would’ve beat him. And it would’ve made him a colossal star,” he says.
Last year, Shaw came into contact with the Marquezes when he won the purse bid for Rafael’s first bout with Silence Mabuza last November. For the rematch, he finds himself promoting the bantamweight powerhouse full-time. This promoter says his dealings with Beristain have been fruitful. “Truthfully, it has not been difficult since I’ve signed Rafael and they took the rematch and it was not a problem,” he says. “I believe once I’m with Juan Manuel and spend some time with him and Nacho and Jaime Quintana that I’ll be able to sign him.
“They are very talented fighters individually, and as a brother tandem, I don’t think there’s anybody better in boxing. Maybe not even in the history of boxing.”
Shaw agrees with Arum that going to Indonesia was something akin to managerial malpractice.
“I was mortified that they would go over there,” he says. “First of all, with no representation, and I was mortified that they would go over there for $30,000. I wouldn’t have chased the belt or given up the belt, whatever the case may be.”
So why is Juan Manuel, who faces the tough Terdsak Jandaeng, still unsigned?
“At that time they said Rafael was ready to sign and I said, ‘I’d like to sign them both’ and they said Juan would like a little more time. And I said, ‘No problem’ and there came a time that Golden Boy tried to wine and dine Juan and he left there and had not signed,” says Shaw. “I think that he just wanted to hear what’s out there.”
On a national conference call, Marquez was asked about his free agent status, and he would respond by stating: “There is no intention of signing with anybody. First of all, there is this upcoming fight, so I want to take it one at a time and once we have something in writing or something that is convenient for us, I will sign with that promoter.”
Juan Manuel is 32 years old, Rafael 31. Not ancient, but not exactly youthful, either, especially for boxers in the lighter weight divisions. Did their window of opportunity close on them? Were their best years squandered?
“Well,” contemplated their former promoter, “they’re athletes, and athletes have a limited life. It’s not like a business guy that can go on for 40 or 50 years. An athlete has a certain number of good years and then that’s it and they’ve burned up what should’ve been some of their terrific years.”
Were they simply too loyal to a man who built them as prizefighters, but dropped the ball too often as a businessman?
“It seemed that way to me but I don’t know,” said Arum. “I just don’t know; it seemed that they should’ve woken up. They’re fighting for real short money on Showtime and it doesn’t seem like they’re going anyplace.”
It’s no surprise that Shaw believes that the expiration date on the Marquez brothers is a long ways out.
“Oh, for sure; let’s take them individually,” he says enthusiastically, “Rafael, I think, is the single best fighter at 118, bar no one. And I believe he can go to 122 and beat anybody. So for him, he’s got two weight classes, and maybe there are some guys from 115 that are going to come up to 118. He has no problems making it. I think there are some real big fights out there for him.
“For Juan Manuel, he’s 126 and he could fight at 130. So we can fight Pacquiao, he could fight either Barrera or how ’bout Rocky Juarez? There are some big fights out there.”
But for this supremely talented tandem, you’ve got to ask, is the future behind them?
THE HEAT IS ON
Before this recent cooling off out here in Southern California, it was so hot that for the first time in history, folks were getting into arguments about who hogged up all the cold water in the shower.
Temps reached well above 100 degrees, and to make things worse, it was also as humid as South Florida, it seemed. There have been reports of a spike in heat-related deaths the past few weeks with the recent climate, and with football training camps starting up, there will be much talk of protecting the players from the brutal conditions. But football coaches aren’t the only ones who have to look out for the welfare of their charges.
Freddie Roach, whose gym is out in Hollywood, has made a few concessions with this recent weather.
“I cut back on the sparring,” said the veteran trainer, who’s preparing titlists Brian Viloria and Israel Vazquez for bouts in August and September. “They would usually be up eight, nine rounds sparring. But I cut sparring back to five, six, seven rounds because it’s just too hot.”
Roach, who has lived in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, says the actual temperature isn’t the real problem. Like they say, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.
“Humidity is more the problem, it’s not so much the temperature of the heat. The high humidity is just hard to deal with. It puts so much strain on the fighters,” he says. “They’re sweating so much and they’re not used to the humidity like I was. I grew up in Boston and it was always high humidity. The thing is, LA is usually a lot drier.”
To deal with the unusual conditions, Roach says. “We just try to get them to drink a lot of liquids and so forth. Of course there’s a problem of making weight but the thing is, they’re sweating so much in the gym, it evens out.”
CALL OUT
I hear now that Bruce ‘the Mouse’ Strauss is the latest to put out an e-mail release to challenge WBO welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito. And it says he’ll take just one-twenty-fifth of what Floyd Mayweather turned down and if Margarito and his management don’t respond by Wednesday, it’s clear, he’s ducking them.
In fact, I feel like getting into it, y’know what, I’m hereby challenging ‘the Tijuana Tornado’ and I’ll take just one-fiftieth of what Mayweather passed on.
See, I guess anyone can do this.
Uh, folks, let me explain something to you (especially you Mayweather fans, not the smartest lot I’ve dealt with) – you’re really only ‘calling somebody out’ or challenging them if you have a legitimate offer on the table with the backing of your promoter (like Margarito did with Arum); everything else is just grandstanding.
And speaking of which, I find it peculiar that Grandstanding Boy Promotions and Oscar De La Hoya weren’t making a peep until Margarito and Arum had already stated their own plans. As for Winky Wright, it was he that first turned down a $4 million offer from Top Rank to face Margarito about 3 weeks ago, wasn’t it? Are they now realizing that perhaps they have no other options?
Again, for anybody supposedly calling out Margarito, or any other fighter for that matter, step to the table with a legitimate offer – one that, for instance, will pay a guy in excess of two times his biggest purse – the backing of your promoter and a solid date.
But anyways, if this coward Margarito doesn’t respond via e-mail to my challenge, it’s clear, he’s just afraid of me.
DID HE SAY THAT?
The most startling aspect of Mayweather’s interview with Stephen A. Smith on ‘Quite Frankly’ Friday night was not his opinion that he was superior to Sugar Ray Robinson (who I’m pretty sure would’ve taken $8 million for ‘easy work’) but that he left Arum to cut out the middle man so he could deal with HBO himself.
Uh, OK.
I think we just found out who Mayweather’s new promoter is. And it’s the same one that promoted Wlad Klitschko, De La Hoya and now Winky Wright, and promoted Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones and Naseem Hamed in the past.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
– l liked the debut of ‘Fight Night’ on OLN. They’ve already had one more good show this year than ‘Boxing After Dark’. They need to work out their audio problems, though.
– Roy Jones showed he can still beat a certain level of fighter this past weekend in Boise, Idaho, as he easily decisioned Prince Badi Ajamu. He still has quick hands and can look flashy when given space. Don’t be stunned to hear of Jones taking on Joe Calzaghe.
I know, I know, but it will grab headlines.
By the way, what happened at the end of the Arthur Williams-Kenny Keene fight, where Keene was allowed to just take an awful beating, could’ve been an endorsement for the abolishment of boxing.
– Hey, when was the last time Buddy McGirt was in the winning corner?
FINAL FLURRIES
I hear that the opening bout on Showtime’s October edition of ‘Championship Boxing’ could feature IBF flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan….Speaking of Golden Boy’s press release regarding Margarito, would they dare allow one of their fighters, either Kassim Ouma or Ishe Smith to appear on Showtime?….Out of the two, I’d much rather see Ouma in there (who I think has a tough time against Sechew Powell this Saturday night) versus Margarito. Smith, I’m told, says he’d take one-tenth of what Mayweather declined. Problem is, he isn’t even worth a fraction of that. What did he make his last bout? About 10-grand on Wednesday Night Fights, maybe?……Bad news boxing fans, Henry ‘Sugar Poo Buchanan did not break his hand and he will advance to the second round of the ShoBox super middleweight tourney….Gary Shaw says he has inked Cuban welterweight Jose Antonio Izquierdo to a deal….Yes, folks, camps are now open, football season is just around the corner. It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..
