Juan Manuel Lopez couldn’t break Rafael Marquez’s will on Saturday night (November 5). But he could break his body. With advantages in age, size, and power, WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez brawled his way to an exciting eighth round corner stoppage over Rafael Marquez.
The only tactical round was the first. Lopez centered his offense on his lethal right hook. Marquez used Lopez’s singular focus to establish his left jab. On the inside, he landed a flush left uppercut. But Marquez lingered just a second too long, and caught a hard left hook for his trouble.
As the naturally bigger man, Lopez felt confident that he could take Marquez’s firepower. Lopez pressed forward over the next two rounds. Each man took turns testing each other’s chin with hooks. But Marquez got the worse of it, getting knocked across the ring by a Lopez left in round three.
The next round almost resulted in Rafael Marquez accomplishing a huge upset. During an exchange, Lopez was staggered by a compact left hook. Even hurt, he displayed his machismo by taunting his opponent to hit him again. Marquez obliged and buckled him again with another left hook. But Lopez found a saving grace in an errant foul.
Referee Tony Weeks deducted a point from Lopez for holding and hitting. The delay allowed the champion to clear his head, and Rafael Marquez would get no further golden opportunities.
Juan Manuel Lopez proceeded to wear down Marquez with hooks to the body. The sixth and seventh were particularly brutal, as Lopez incorporated debilitating uppercuts into his attacks. The shots left Marquez visibly shaken, but he refused to fall. Lopez walked through all of Marquez’s shots, and simply bullied his challenger into corners and strafed him with power punches.
After the eighth, Marquez complained to his corner that he couldn’t throw effectively due to a right shoulder injury. His trainer Daniel Zaragoza assessed his fighter’s limited chances, and decided to call off the fight.
Both Lopez (39-6, 35 KOs) and Marquez (30-0, 27 KOs) were willing to rematch for the WBO featherweight crown. However, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum advised that Lopez would have a showcase fight in Puerto Rico early next year before unifying with Yuriorkis Gamboa in June 2011. Should Marquez got back from the shoulder injury, only then could a rematch be possible.
If it happens, boxing fans may be treated to another Fight of the Year candidate.
Glen Johnson’s (51-14-2, 35 KOs) career has new life at 41 years old courtesy of a KO win over Allan Green (29-3, 20 KOs) in his Super Six debut.
From round one, Green’s attempts to work the jab were foiled quickly when Johnson smashed him with a counter right. Green’s jab was pawing, and he resorted to holding whenever Johnson got close. In the second round, Green stayed on the move and controlled distance with the left jab. This time, he spun back to ring center to avoid Johnson’s inside work and carried the stanza.
Green was winning the third handily for about 2:45 seconds. Johnson struggled to avoid the jab, and Green also landed a nice right uppercut. But Johnson’s pressure payed dividends when he landed a looping right while Green was caught against the ropes. Green was badly stunned, and Johnson punished him further with left and right hooks. If it wasn’t for the bell, Green was close to a probable stoppage.
The Road Warrrior smelled blood. He mauled Green and worked the body effectively. Green was warned for holding, but created space via short flurries.
The pattern continued in rounds five and six , before Johnson came on big in the seventh. He walked through Green’s punches and repeatedly landed stiff 1-2’s. The right hand couldn’t miss from outside and mid-range. Up close, Glen Johnson rattled Green with a sharp left hook upstairs. To his credit, Green tried his hand at fighting inside, but it remained Johnson who repeatedly connected with harder shots.
Glen Johnson wasted no time capitalizing further in round eight. When Green leaned to his right side, Johnson beautifully timed an overhand right to the side of the head. Green’s legs buckled, and another right deposited him on the canvas.
Instead of getting up, Green protested vehemently to referee Robert Byrd that he was hit behind the head. He didn’t try to get up until the count reached eight, and was too wobbly to beat it.
The KO win gives Glen Johnson three points, and a guaranteed semifinal berth in the Super Six.
“He’d been leaning on that side all night…I was just being patient,” Johnson explained. “Eventually I’m gonna get just in the right spot to land my punches. I love Allan Green like my brother. He’s one of the best persons I’ve met in boxing. My only regret is that both of us couldn’t move on.”
Allan Green believed he had got up in time to continue fighting. He also thought the blow that began the knockdown was a rabbit punch.
“I was fine, it was kinda back there,” Green said. “I got up, [and] the referee said it was over.”
Next, Glen Johnson will meet either Andre Ward, Carl Froch, or Arthur Abraham.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 