LAS VEGAS ? After a dark month that didn?t include much more than the sad spectacle of watching Shannon Briggs endure a terrible beating from Vitali Klitschko, November dawns with fighters and a fight, Juan Manuel Lopez-versus-Rafael Marquez, with all of the elements that have been missing in action.
Lopez, a Puerto Rican, and Marquez, a Mexican, haven?t said much. They haven?t had to.
A Fight-of-the- Year possibility is real in a featherweight bout at the MGM Grand on Showtime Saturday night in a classic confrontation at the crossroads. There?s the 35-year-old old Marquez in a battle to extend his career before turning toward a retirement that is destined to take him into the Hall of Fame. In the opposite corner, there is the 27-year-old Lopez, who is eager to just move into a position that one day might allow him to be where Marquez is now.
?Without a doubt, I know he?s coming to prove that he?s still at the same level,?? the fighter best known as JuanMa said on a conference call. ?I?m out to prove that I?m at the same level he?s at. ?I can?t see how it will not be a good fight. We both have a lot to prove. We?re willing to give up everything in the ring.?
Like any good fight, plenty of intrigue is offered by a collection of subplots. Lopez-Marquez looks as if it will be another chapter in a rivalry, Puerto Rico-versus-Mexico, as rich in tradition as any. Flags will fly. So, too, will the fists, some of which promise to result in knockdowns. Playing-it-safe is Chad Dawson?s game, which has never been played by JuanMa.
The unbeaten lefthander (29-0, 26 KOs) has been down, off his feet in the first round against Bernabe Concepcion and victorious in the second. Lopez courts trouble, which is part of the attraction. If the danger isn?t there and always imminent, there?s no reason to watch.
?I see how strong and powerful he is,?? Marquez (39-5, 35 KOs) said. ?But I also see his weaknesses. I see that he has a weak chin. So we have to take advantage of that and put our punches together and use a lot of combinations. I have to use all of my experience and all of my power and all my intelligence in the ring to get to him. It?s a winnable fight, no question.??
From this seat, Lopez-Marquez looms as the best of a loaded
