The Shootist’s Last Stand: Marquez vs Lopez Preview & Prediction
Vulnerable punchers guarantee high drama. From Chacon to Trinidad via Hearns, Benn, Norris and beyond, a dynamite hitter with a less than dynamite whisker collection can make teetering on the brink of calamity look like an art form. Puerto Rico’s latest action star, Juan Manuel (JuanMa) Lopez would appear to be cut from similar silk to the crowd pleasers listed above; perhaps the most numbing sharpshooter in boxing, he’s shown susceptibility of late, which only increases the fun quota when watching him do his thing.
On Saturday evening in Vegas, Lopez will be aiming to swell his fan base with a breakthrough win over fellow entertainer par excellence, Rafael Marquez. The pair have flirted with a meeting since the back end of 2008, when they helped comprise a formidable quartet at super bantamweight alongside Israel Vazquez and Celestino Caballero. Lopez was the young gunslinger who’d waxed all four opponents he’d taken to task that annum in an eye-popping 699 seconds. Marquez had gone down in flames to his nemesis Vazquez in their nail-biting rubber match, whilst the lanky Panamanian outsider Caballero, was spoiling for a chance to prove that he was the rightful top dog of the division.
Unfortunately, in the twelve months which followed, matchmakers failed to harvest a single bout between the rivals. Vazquez and Marquez set sail for featherweight, easing themselves back into action with wins over manageable opposition. JuanMa, meanwhile, chose to remain at super bantamweight, appearing unbeatable against Gerry Penalosa, slightly less so against Olivier Lontchi and downright vulnerable against Rogers Mtagwa. Poor Caballero, meanwhile, was left to go dangle.
Into 2010 and Marquez shredded the remains of Vazquez in May with a wince inducing three round dissection. Lopez too had joined the featherweight party by this time, impressively controlling the very decent Steve Luevano prior to despatching him in seven. Then summer arrived and it was back to the tightrope act for the Caguas hitter. After flattening Bernabe Concepcion in the first minute of their encounter, he became embroiled in a real up and downer, catching a left hook himself which sat him down onto the seat of his pants. Showing an improved left to go with his walloping right, Lopez roared back in the second session, finishing the Filipino off with a brutal onslaught which tossed him mercilessly around the San Juan ring.
At 27, JuanMa is hitting his prime after powering his way to sterling numbers of 29-0 (26 quick). Graceful on his feet, there’s an undeniable class to his work when he sets himself away offensively. His whipping right hand is a fearsome weapon and as he showed against Concepcion, his southpaw straight left can have a teeth jangling effect also. He currently rates second at featherweight behind the enigmatic Indonesian veteran, Chris John.
Marquez, meanwhile, is the old stager looking to dredge up one final great flourish. At the age of 35, he’s approaching the tail end of a first rate 39-5 (35) career. With smart wins over the likes of Mark Johnson, Tim Austin and Silence Mabuza on top of his epic four fight series with Vazquez, Rafael has more than made his bones as a prizefighter. Excellent technically, he employs a piston like jab backed up with expert multi-punch combinations and rates ninth at the weight with Ring Magazine.
The fight may start out as a fencing contest, yet once the first big punch smashes home, the action will quicken. There’ll be two way exchanges and passionate retorts, the type of action that makes arena seating redundant. Lopez should win it. He’s the smoother of the two when up on his toes and with youth on his side and his ability to churn out streams of leather, he should have too much going for him here for Marquez to keep pace with him.
In a frenetic shootout, I’m looking for Lopez to prove he’s the new gun in town, landing one of his beautifully timed speeding bullets on the inside which will drop the old timer early and effectively curtail his evening’s work. Whilst Marquez will get up and fight on gamely (he knows no other way) he’ll only ever be one punch away from seeing the curtain fall. That moment should come sometime around the fifth.
Glen Johnson vs Allan Green
Johnson perfectly symbolises Showtime’s dogged determination to see their very much maligned Super Six tournament through to a conclusion (as is yours truly after stealing odds of 10/1 on Andre Ward). He enters the competition in its decisive third round, assured of a semi-final berth should he manage to navigate his way past another late entrant in Oklahoma’s Allan Green.
After replacing Jermain Taylor in round two, the hard hitting Green caught an absolute pasting from tournament favourite Ward, subsequently blaming his desultory effort on an inability to fight effectively at the 168lb limit. Johnson, meanwhile, has been campaigning as a light heavyweight for the past decade, and at the seriously advanced age of 41, there are real concerns he’ll be able to perform at super middle, should he manage to hit his mark on the scales of course.
Whilst we may yet be privy to all kinds of shenanigans at the weigh-in, it remains to be seen how much vim and vigour each will have left when it comes to bell time. On form, you’d have to fancy Johnson who, despite showing signs of wear and tear, remains an arduous obstacle for even the very best of boxing’s new wave. Green has shown an inability to step up to the plate in his most important bouts to date, very much the Devon Loch to Johnson’s West Tip.
I’ll go for the popular Jamaican to land the right side of a points verdict, after a rotten old slog of a contest.
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