Marquez now lord of the 'Ring' lightweight belt
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/14/2008 1:20 PM
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Juan Manuel Marquez demolished Joel Casamayor in the 11th round of their 12-round fight to win the Ring Magazine lightweight belt Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"We came well prepared, we knew what to do. We wanted to fight for the Mexican people," said Marquez through an interpreter. Marquez's native Mexico is celebrating its independence from Spanish colonialism on September 16.
The knockout win brought Marquez his 49th victory against four losses. He now has 36 KO wins.
"El Cepillo" Casamayor of Guantanamo, Cuba, meanwhile, fell to a 36-4 win-loss slate.
"He took the house of Casa brick-by-brick," Manila-based fight analyst Ed Tolentino said durint the ABS-CBN Sports coverage of "The Challenge" main event.
"The wrecking ball came by way of a vicious combination," he added.
The win for Marquez, nicknamed "Dinamita" (dynamite) came via a knockout at 2:55 in Round 11. Moments earlier, he also floored Casamayor who suffered a cut on his right brow.
Casamayor threw a total of 552 punches but only landed 122 for a 22-percent connection.
The new champ, meanwhile, landed 160 out of 516 punches thrown for a 31-percent average.
Marquez commended Casamayor for the performance, even saying that the Cuban was "the best."
"He was the best lightweight [but] we knew what we had to do," he said.
"The best fighter was Floyd Mayweather but now I'm the best," he added.
Juanma: I want Pacquiao
With regard to Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, Marquez said that he still wants to beat the man who took the WBC super featherweight belt away from him in March, also in Las Vegas.
"We moved exactly to get Pacquiao, this is a beautiful location, that's what we want but we'll might anybody who my promoter wants," he said when asked for the reason behind his climb in weight class from the 130-pound division.
Last week, an online column quoted Marquez as saying that he wants to prove something against Pacquiao, who moved up to the 135-lb lightweight division following the super featherweight win in March.
"When Pacquiao fought (David) Diaz, he was a champion, yes, but not a top fighter in the 135-pound division. I'm going to prove I'm the best 135-pound fighter out there," Chris Manny of Sports Illustrated.com's Inside Boxing quoted Marquez as saying.
Prior to their super featherweight outing, Pacquiao defeated Marquez on May 8, 2004.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is now busy preparing for his monumental fight dubbed "The Dream Match" with Oscar de la Hoya on December 6 in Las Vegas.
The fight will be at the 147-lb welterweight limit.
