It was the fight we thought we?d see last week. In a featherweight war, a Mexican fighter wore a mask of blood and traded punches in center ring against a Filipino southpaw.
The setting was Hidalgo, Texas, not Las Vegas, and HBO gave luminaries Jim Lampley and Michael Buffer the night off. While Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao provided a worthy opening act to the Boxing After Dark television audience, Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca staged a trilogy-worthy bloodbath. HBO showed the replay of last weekend?s Pay Per View finale to the Morales-Pacquiao trilogy, but on the weekend after Thanksgiving, the live action overshadowed the leftovers.
Marquez delivered a message to the top-heavy division, stopping Jaca in the ninth round with a tremendous left hook. Normally a slick counter-puncher, Marquez displayed an aggressive style more suited to Pay Per View mainstays Pacquiao, Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
Jaca did his part, standing in against Marquez and throwing punches with abandon. The underdog from the Philippines threw sixteen more punches than Marquez according to HBO?s Compu-Box statistics. He also caught Marquez with short punches on two occasions, sending the WBO interim champion reeling off balance.
In addition to a short left in round two and a right hook shortly before the end of his evening, Jaca also found the mark repeatedly with his head. An unintentional butt opened a cut on the head of Marquez in round five. A second butt in the eighth round left Marquez?s face drenched in blood.
Both times, Marquez responded with an explosion of action. Wary that the cut might end the bout early, Marquez threw extended combinations. In the eighth round, referee Laurence Cole twice took time out to have Marquez examined by the ringside physician. Once action resumed, Marquez and Jaca stood toe-to-toe, snapping heads with a long exchange of power shots. Twice during the frenzy, Marquez landed every shot of a four-punch combination.
Jaca wasn?t able to match Marquez?s accuracy, which was his downfall in the bout. Despite a game performance and several close rounds, he was shut out on the official scorecards. A massive hook from Marquez made the cards irrelevant, however. At the end of a fairly even round, Marquez threw a double hook, straightening Jaca with the first and laying him out with the second. Jaca sat stunned on the mat as Cole counted him out at 2:48 of the ninth.
With rumors of Pacquiao-Barrera II swirling from the moment the Pac-Man dispatched Morales on November 18, Marquez needed an impressive showing to keep alive his own prospects for a rematch with Pacquiao. With a dominating performance and an entertaining style, there is no doubt Marquez succeeded on all counts.
Whether he did enough to earn a date on PPV night instead of a week later remains to be seen.
