HOUSTON ? After the post-fight press conference I followed Nacho Beristain into the underground corridor that would take him and the rest of Team Marquez to its van. Since there?s not a more gracious winner than Beristain, and since it had been another vindicating night for the old Mexican, I thought it an auspicious time to talk durability.
Working off an emotion many felt at ringside an hour before, I asked Beristain if there were a moment, early in the main event, when he feared for his best pupil?s health. The old master assertively shook his head.
?No, nothing of fear,? he said. ?Juan is not fragile.?
No, as he proved Saturday in Toyota Center, Juan Manuel Marquez is not. Rising to a dual challenge from Houston?s Juan Diaz and time itself, Marquez reiterated his undisputed claim to the lightweight championship of the world by knocking-out Diaz at 2:40 of the ninth round in a fantastic fight that reiterated boxing?s claim to a uniquely suspenseful place in sport. At the time of the knockout, the fight was a technical draw on the judges? scorecards: 77-75, 75-77 and 76-76.
On my scorecard the challenger was ahead 77-76. I had scored Rounds 3, 7 and 8 for Marquez. Rounds 1, 2, 4 and 6 had gone to Diaz. I had the fifth even. But the fight was trending Marquez after the midway point, and that was a remarkable development.
Early, there had been ominous signs for Marquez. And those signs were only partially rebutted by the fight?s breathtaking conclusion. In fact, the hollowness of Marquez?s legs in the opening rounds, combined with the Mexican?s astounding pride and his trainer Beristain?s easy assurance, indicate things may well end badly for Marquez yet. But we?ll address that some other time.
For the first 18 minutes of Saturday?s championship fight Marquez found himself assaulted by the rude force of youth. Diaz was faster and stronger. He was able to out-jab Marquez while thrusting his weight behind a fully outstretched left arm. Once he had Marquez moving backwards Diaz jumped the 35-year-old champion and made him fight to survive.
The tempo was hellacious. The final 30 seconds of the first round carried more vigorousness of assault than Marquez could have wished. At the end of that round, and most of its five successors, Marquez fought through the closing bell and then glared at Diaz, furiously searching for fissures.
Evidently Marquez saw a few. None of the rest of us did. Guess that?s why he?s the legend.
Something akin to a faith in that legend is what sustained Marquez. From the beginning, he was hitting Diaz with cross/uppercut/cross combinations that should have buckled the 25-year-old Houstonian. But all Marquez got for affirmation were more left hooks from Diaz. And Marquez was the guy, time and again, with his back on the ropes, hands down and head snapping back.
?As the fight began, Diaz pushed,? Beristain explained afterwards. ?That made Juan look fragile.?
It sure did, Nacho. Diaz set his lead foot between Marquez?s legs and shouldered the old champion backwards to the ropes. Marquez saw openings, a plethora of them, and crunched Diaz with left uppercuts. But those punches didn?t seem to matter. Diaz was barely winded. Marquez?s mouth was gaping.
Then Marquez stopped fighting back. He started to disengage, spinning Diaz and moving sideways. It was wrong to think of it as resignation on Marquez?s part. It was also impossible not to. Diaz looked so fresh and relaxed. Marquez looked withered ? like someone considering a pastoral retirement of family gatherings and frolicking grandchildren.
Until Marquez?s defiance returned. A moment, somewhere in the seventh, when he overcame Diaz?s belief in youth and energy. A spot no larger than an instant when Marquez looked at Diaz and posited: Twenty-eight years in this craft tell me you cannot trade left hooks for right crosses. It will not do.
A few minutes later Diaz was cut badly and staggering. He dropped from punches and exhaustion. Then he rose too quickly. Marquez went for him, transformed from a stubborn old guy to an assassin. A right uppercut ended Diaz?s night. As referee Rafael Ramos squatted over Diaz, counting, Marquez leaped on the near turnbuckle, arms raised.
This was not the case of a questionable stoppage or an official protecting Diaz from himself. Rather, Diaz?s consciousness had been taken in a brutal act perpetrated by an immensely proud man insisting his time had not passed.
How brutal? Forty-five minutes later, when Diaz addressed the assembled media, family and friends of his hometown, the first thing he did was tell everyone he was OK ? motioning reassuringly to his mother in the back of the room. Then he showed the charm and charisma that might someday make him mayor of this city.
?Rocky (Juarez) got a draw, which is good,? Diaz said of a fellow Houstonian who?d fought a featherweight title match in the co-main event. ?I got a loss, which is not good at all.?
Diaz will be back. He?ll also be graduating from University of Houston in a couple of months, provided he?s not ?knocked-out by final exams? ? as he put it in Spanish.
Marquez, meanwhile, called-out Floyd Mayweather in a speech that looked more and more rehearsed as it went on. His handlers at Golden Boy Promotions seem certain Mayweather will un-retire sometime soon, and with Marquez at 140 pounds and Shane Mosley at 147, the promoter has ?Pretty Boy Floyd? encircled. Whatever.
Before that, though, Oscar De La Hoya introduced Marquez with a diaphanously veiled reference to his former employee-cum-partner Marco Antonio Barrera and Top Rank?s Erik Morales, saying, ?You have to consider (Marquez), by far, the best Mexican fighter of this era.?
That was true Saturday night ? and De La Hoya is always about the moment. But that might be one statement of De La Hoya?s that is still true in 25 years.
Bart Barry can be reached at [email protected]
