Featherweight Jimrex Jaca of the Philippines was knocked out before interim titlist Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico could ever lay a glove on him.
Jaca was supposed to challenge Marquez in the main event of Golden Boy Promotions’ “Mexican Glory” HBO PPV card Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. However, after several days of angst over the status of Jaca’s visa, Golden Boy finally pulled the plug on the fight Tuesday night.
Juan Manuel Marquez, standing, won the WBO interim featherweight championship with a seventh-round TKO of Terdsak Jandaeng back in August. “Jaca is out of the main event. It’s a real shame,” Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez told ESPN.com about 90 minutes before he and Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya were to board a private plane to go to El Paso to break the news to Marquez (45-3-1, 34 KOs).
Gomez said the card would still go on and that he hoped to find a late replacement to face Marquez, who is supposed to make his debut for Golden Boy after signing with the company last month.
The other fights scheduled for the telecast remain intact. Junior featherweight titlist Daniel Ponce De Leon (29-1, 27 KOs) will defend against Al Seeger (27-1, 21 KOs) and junior welterweight contender Juan Lazcano (36-3-1, 27 KOs) will fight Manuel Garnica (20-5, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder.
Gomez said that Jaca (26-2-1, 11 KOs) received his visa Oct. 11 and was supposed to arrive in the United States last Friday, but a log jam at the American embassy in Manila caused a delay.
“He’s been there three times,” Gomez said. “He showed up at the American embassy for a special stamp three times and they turned him away. Supposedly, they are backed up and there’s a big waiting list. They tried getting the mayor of Manila involved, government officials and they didn’t help him.”
Gomez said when he first learned that Jaca would be delayed last Thursday, he wasn’t too worried. He figured Jaca would go back to the embassy the next day to get it taken care of, and that Golden Boy would book Jaca on a new flight to arrive Saturday. But that didn’t happen.
“The lawyer we use to help us with visas has been doing this for a long time and he said that the last time he had a problem like this was over 10 years ago,” Gomez said. “We faxed letters to the embassy from Oscar but it didn’t help.”
As if finding a short-notice replacement for Marquez won’t be hard enough, Gomez figures to be hampered by the fact that Marquez was training for a left-handed opponent and might be reluctant to switch to the more common right-hander at the last minute.
Gomez said that if a suitable replacement can’t be found for Marquez, he hoped to bump a couple of bouts on the undercard up to the televised portion of the show, a 12-rounder between El Paso junior featherweight prospect Antonio Escalante (13-1, 8 KOs) and Omar Adorno (16-7-1, 10 KOs), and a 10-round bantamweight fight between former junior bantamweight titlist Gerry Penalosa (50-5-2, 33 KOs) — a Filipino who had no visa issues — and former bantamweight titlist Mauricio Martinez (31-6-1, 21 KOs).
If a replacement can’t be found for Marquez, Gomez hopes to put him on Golden Boy’s Nov. 25 HBO “Boxing After Dark” card, which still does not have a set main event.
Marquez is a former unified champion who fought to a bloody draw with star Manny Pacquiao in 2004. Three fights later, Marquez lost a close decision to Chris John in Indonesia in March.
In August, Marquez claimed the interim title with a seventh-round TKO of Terdsak Jandaeng of Thailand. The interim title was available because titlist Scott Harrison of Scotland, who was supposed to face Marquez, his mandatory challenger, was unavailable due to a string of personal problems that delayed the bout.
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
