Today?s featherweight scene is not unlike a Shakespearean tragedy, so savagely has the traditional weight class fallen from grace. With the present king, Juan Manuel Marquez, in exile, the 126-pound landscape has fallen into chaos, squabbling and disorder, in the manner of factions in King Lear.
But there are signs that it could be saved just in time.
Any later, and Willie Pep could be tossing and turning in his grave.
Pep, who died at the age of 84 last week, held the world featherweight crown from 1942-1948, before waging a classic four fight series with Sandy Saddler (Pep won only the second fight, regaining the crown from his great rival), leaving the sport with a 230-11-1 (65KOs) record and the reputation as the best defensive boxer of all time.
Despite the lack of focus in today’s division, Juan Manuel Marquez is the best there is right now. Coming off two exciting recent wins, he is ready to renew his collection of ?world? title belts run by the ?big four? sanctioning bodies.
It?s because of these bodies ? the IBF and WBA in particular ? that Marquez was relieved of his championship. After unifying the said titles with wins over Manuel Medina and Derrick Gainer, the brilliant Mexican survived three knockdowns against Manny Pacquiao, before giving the Filipino southpaw a boxing lesson en route to a 12 round draw, in 2003.
The same Pacquiao who walked through modern greats Morales and Barrera.
When, in the now infamous incident, he was told to turn a career high $750,000 payday by his trainer/manager Nacho Beristain for a Pacquiao rematch, Juan Manuel quickly regressed from champion to mere contender and the 126-pound weight class went into limbo.
(In the meantime, Pacquiao jumped up to super featherweight, where he waged a memorable three fight series with Erik Morales, losing the first but winning the next two by knockout. He is now on the brink of more huge fights, in the most glamorous division in boxing – for want of a contrast.)
After Marquez? promoters Top Rank decided against staging his mandatory defense against Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym (who lost to Pacquiao inside a round), the IBF relieved him of his status. As if losing his title outside of the ropes wasn?t bad enough, the WBA followed suit thanks to their lunatic policy of splitting their titles between ?super? and ?regular? status.
In a feat of brutal irony, ?super? champion Marquez (super, because he held another organization?s title simultaneously) was stripped in favour of ?regular? champion Chris John. A trip to Indonesia to challenge John followed suit this year, and Marquez went home empty handed after losing a controversial 12 round decision to the home fighter.
Since then, the division has been a shambles. The best of the title-holders, Chris John, has restricted his fine boxing to the smallest audience, as he continues to defend his crown in Asia. Meanwhile, the IBF belt has changed hands ? from Valdemeir Perreira, to Eric Aiken, to Robert Guerrero and then Orlando Salido ? four times in as many fights.
Given that Marquez schooled Salido, in a soporific affair (on the 2004, Hopkins-de la Hoya undercard), it all feels like a sick joke – a reversal of fortunes that must be soul crushing for the Mexican.
Understandably, championship action hasn?t been of the highest quality ? John notwithstanding. None of the WBC champions have been good enough to make a single successful defense this year; and WBO holder Scott Harrison has been making waves outside of the ring, rather than in it.
Outside of the ropes, there has been some startling drama involving some of the division?s top ten. After beating Guerrero (on the Mayweather-Baldomir undercard early this month), Salido was relieved of his title when traces of Nandrolone were found in his urine, by the NSAC. A follow-up test, by Labcorp (a nationally recognized blood lab), found no such evidence. His name cleared, Salido will presumably be handed the title back, becoming one of the few men to have lost and regained a championship without a single punch thrown.
If that was drama enough, it pales by comparison to the training camp of WBO titlist Harrison ? the bulk of which he spent in a Spanish jail ? for his next fight, against Nicky Cook. Following charges of attempted theft and the assault of a police officer, the Scottish fighter trained for five-and-a-half weeks incarcerated, until his release two weeks ago.
Suspense mounted as the WBO?s deadline loomed, but Harrison was granted bail just in time to keep his title. One cliff-hanger led to another when the British Boxing Board of Control refused to let him fight until passing a medical. Now that he has passed, he is free to face Nicky Cook, in what promises to be a cracker, at the ExCel Arena in London, next month.
Harrison, who has yet to fight this year, will remain a concern unless he gets by Cook ? a wicked body puncher with youth, circumstance and ambition on his side. But the aggressive Scot could react positively with his back to the wall. And the machinery is moving in the right direction. Whoever wins will be obligated to face Marquez, who happens to hold the WBO interim crown.
Drama will hopefully make its way between the ropes, for a series of compelling and meaningful fights that will set the pulses racing once more. Marquez will never arouse the curiosity in the way than Naseem Hamed did (a man renowned for ducking Marquez) did in the late 90s, nor will he earn the level of affection that the warrior Erik Morales has been greeted with, of recent. But he can carve his own niche, by applying his punishing power and artful boxing against the best available men at 126-pounds.
Coming off two exciting wins ? over Terdsak Jandaeng and Jimrex Jaca, last weekend ? Marquez has reinvented himself. Eschewing his cautious, cerebral approach that brought us such dull fights as Marquez vs Salido and Marquez vs Freddie Norwood (L12, his first title fight); he has made the most of his crippling power and blurring handspeed. Though receiving more shots than normal, ?Dinamita? become much more enjoyable to watch these days, as he kick-starts his career with new promoter Golden Boy.
The name on everyone?s lips right now is Pacquiao, by dint of the brilliant run that has seen him sweep aside Erik Morales (KO10, and KO3) and Oscar Larios (W12) in consecutive fights. Being on either side of the Golden Boy-Arum feud would make a Marquez-Pacquiao rematch unlikely (Pacquiao recently signed with Arum, though Golden Boy claim to have him), but the split does have its rewards. It?s clear that Golden Boy aim to raise the bar for Marquez ? a contrast to Top Rank, who let Marquez-Rakkiatgym go, the first link in a disastrous chain.
Jaca is no more recognisable a name than Rakkiatgym, is he?
With a more aggressive approach to combat, an upcoming world title challenge and the prospect of tempting WBA title holder Chris John into a rematch on neutral soil, Juan Manuel Marquez could at last be on his way to becoming the excellent champion we know he can be.
Anything less would be a dreadful waste.
