Never say never in boxing.
During the mid-to-late ‘90s, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez, then 20-something phenoms out of Mexico City, thrilled Southern California fight fans at Inglewood’s Great Western Forum and The Pond of Anaheim. Barrera, a 122-pound standout with a relentless pressure fighting style, was thought to be the next Julio Cesar Chavez; while Marquez, a deadly accurate featherweight technician, looked like the closest thing to Salvador Sanchez.
The only drawback to watching this dynamic duo ply their craft inside the ropes was the knowledge that they would most likely never occupy a boxing ring at the same time despite the fact that they had the same promoter, the now-defunct Forum Boxing, Inc.
Well, better late than never. They went their separate ways when Forum Boxing stopped putting on fights in Southern California, won a combined seven world titles, and now, as 33-year-old veterans, both men are fighting under the same promotional banner again with Golden Boy Promotions – and FINALLY squaring off against each other on March 17th.
For hardcore boxing fans who watched Barrera and Marquez cut their proverbial teeth in Southern California (where Barrera fought 13 times between ’92 and ’99; and where Marquez fought 15 times between ’95 and ’99) Thursday’s official press conference at the House of Blues in Hollywood, California announcing that the two will fight for Barrera’s WBC 130-pound title at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is an almost surreal experience.
For more than half a decade fight fanatics fantasized about how Marquez would withstand Barrera’s pressure or how Barrera would deal with Marquez’s counter-punching ability or how Marquez would cut the ring off on Barrera if he decided to stick and move or how Barrera would handle Marquez’s underrated power, and so on.
There were too many scenarios to consider when mentally pitting these two together because of their obvious skills, versatility, warrior hearts, and let’s not forget their ring smarts. Barrera and Marquez are not only two most complete Mexican fighters in the game since Ricardo Lopez retired, but they are among the most intelligent boxers from ANY country.
Unfortunately for fight fans, Barrera’s former manager, Ricardo Maldonado, was also pretty smart – and as shrewd as they come. English is not Maldonado’s first language but if any gringo boxing scribe dared to bring up Marquez’s name as a potential opponent when he was managing Barrera he spoke it loud and very clear:
“Are you INSANE!?”
As far as Maldonado was concerned Barrera needed Marquez about as much as he needed a sulfuric acid enema. That fight was not going to happen on his watch.
As the years went by and Barrera far surpassed his old promotional stablemate in terms of recognition and respect with memorable 12-round bouts with the likes of Erik Morales and Naseem Hamed, and even after Barrera and Maldonado split, most boxing writers (including this one) began to assume that the fighter shared the old manager’s reluctance (or perhaps even fear) to face Marquez.
Boxing writers really shouldn’t assume such things.
“When this fight was brought up to me all I said was ‘when?’” Barrera said in passable English at the House of Blues Thursday. “I know who Juan Manuel Marquez is. He’s a warrior. I respect him. I will come 200% ready.
“We’ve waited many years for this fight. I want to retire soon, but I don’t want to end my career with easy fights.”
After locking horns with the likes of Kennedy McKinney, Junior Jones (twice), Morales (three times), Hamed and Manny Pacquiao along with 11 other former world title holders, nobody is going to accuse Barrera of taking the easy road during his certain hall-of-fame career.
Marquez has faced his share of world-class fighters, too, but he doesn’t have the kind of names that Barrera’s ledger contains – in part because a lot of top fighters have avoided Marquez over the years, but the other part of that reason is poor management. The one monster name on Marquez’s ledger is Pacquiao, whom the Mexican battled to a stirring draw in 2004. Marquez, on the “advice” of his trainer-“manager” Nacho Beristain, passed on the opportunity to fight a rematch with the PacMan that, if he won, would have catapulted him into the top five of most pound-for-pound lists as well as a new tax bracket.
He also passed on the opportunity to expose Hamed before Barrera did – this, after being the no. 1 contender to Hamed’s WBO featherweight title for nearly two years. Marquez acknowledged that he’s made some mistakes in the past at Thursday’s presser and vowed to make things right on March 17th.
“Life doesn’t give you many opportunities like this and this is one opportunity that I will not miss,” he said. “I’m going to be more prepared for Marco Antonio Barrera than I was for Manny Pacquiao.”
HBO PPV
Barrera-Marquez is an HBO Pay-Per-View event that is going for a suggested retail price of $44.95. There’s no doubt that the two fighters in the main event are worth paying for – especially vs. each other – but the bout has come under some criticism (and rightfully so) because it is basically a long-overdue showdown that would have been on regular HBO (probably Boxing After Dark) had they actually fought in their primes, and it will likely only sale well in the Southern California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico areas of the country. In other words, it’s a regional fight.
While Golden Boy Promotions doesn’t necessarily agree with this line of thought, the company is attempting to cover its butt by adding a co-feature that may appeal to some non-Mexican fans living east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon line – a 140-pound showdown between former title holder Steve Forbes, of The Contender: Season Two fame, and Philadelphia native Demetrius Hopkins, undefeated holder of the USBA junior welterweight title.
“It’s not done yet,” said GBP matchmaker Eric Gomez, “but a contract was sent to The Contender people today. We’re trying to make it happen.”
Also, being discussed – but not signed and sealed – is a WBO 122-pound title bout between champ Daniel Ponce-DeLeon and former titlist Gerry Penalosa and a 10- or 12-round bout involving Abner Mares, who is dropping from the 122-pound division to bantamweight.
“The Mares bout will be 10 rounds minimum,” said Gomez. “If we can do a minor title over 12 rounds, we’ll do it.”
MARCH BADNESS
Gomez said that the March 24th WBA/WBC 168-pound title fight between champ Mikkel Kessler and undefeated no. 1 contender Librado Andrade, which will take place in Kessler’s native Denmark, will be televised on an HBO Boxing After Dark, following the tape-delay broadcast of Barrera-Marquez.
TICKETS
Tickets for Barrera-Marquez are priced at $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50 and are now on sale at any Mandalay Bay box office and all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Macy’s stores and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call the Mandalay Bay box office at (702) 632-7580 or Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000.
