Marquez works way back into picture

LAS VEGAS – Joel Casamayor waged battle with many of the fiercest punchers in the 130- and 135-pound divisions of the past 12 years.

And never, not when he fought the late Diego Corrales, not when he fought one-time star Acelino Freitas, and not when he battled the powerful Jose Luis Castillo, was he manhandled the way he was Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena by Juan Manuel Marquez.

Casamayor was too proud to admit he was hurt – "He caught me when I was in the air, that's all it was," he snorted – but the quiet and unassuming Marquez made a very loud point Saturday.

The road to supremacy is going to run through him.

He claimed the Ring Magazine lightweight belt with an 11th-round TKO of Casamayor, becoming the first man to stop the 1992 Olympic gold medalist.

After losing a controversial decision to Manny Pacquiao in March, Marquez seethed quietly as Pacquiao first won a lightweight belt by stopping David Diaz in June and then cashed in with an eight-figure payday for a Dec. 6 fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

Marquez, who has been one of the game's most unappreciated stars for the past 10 years, was the consummate professional.

"We worked for three months on stopping that hook of his," Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain said. "Juan is so professional and so smart, that once you teach him something, he doesn't forget it. He knows exactly how to go out there and implement it."

And his performance Saturday was a perfect example. He was cautious early, gauging Casamayor's power and timing his hand speed.

Casamayor had success early by ripping Marquez with the right hook, a punch that Beristain said was the only one in Casamayor's arsenal which concerned him.

But by the fifth round, Casamayor's hook was essentially neutralized and Marquez began to pour on the offense.

Marquez isn't known as a puncher, but it was obvious that he was having an impact upon Casamayor. This is a guy who was stalking Corrales, who only was one of the hardest punchers in the last 30 years at lightweight, and forcing Corrales backward for much of their three fights.

But on this night, Marquez was the man doing the dictating. Casamayor was retreating much of the night, circling back and away from Marquez's quick hands and precise blows.

"Joel needed to keep throwing that 1-2, but he gave up on his combinations after a while," Casamayor trainer Roger Bloodworth said. "He needed to come in with that hook behind the jab and after a while, he wasn't doing that as much as I would have liked to have seen."

Casamayor asked for a rematch, but it's more likely that Golden Boy Promotions will move Marquez into a fight with the volume-punching Juan Diaz, who was impressive in a victory over Michael Katsidis a week earlier in Houston.

Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya suggested that WBA-WBO-IBF champion Nate Campbell and Casamayor were also possibilities.

And a third party threw his name into the equation. "Since De La Hoya is fighting Pacquiao, why not let me fight Marquez?" joked Vernon Forrest, who reclaimed the WBC super welterweight belt with a dominant victory over Sergio Mora in a heated rematch earlier in the night.

All right, it's a little ridiculous for a guy of Forrest's height and weight to be fighting a lightweight, though it's too bad De La Hoya doesn't feel the same way.

Marquez, though, really isn't picky when it comes to choosing opponents.

"There's no way (Top Rank chairman) Bob Arum and Pacquiao are going to fight him again," Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. "I don't think Pacquiao wants anything to do with Juan Manuel Marquez any more. Juan Manuel Marquez will fight anyone. He's never turned down anyone. Have you ever heard him turn down any opponent?"

This is something of a golden age for lightweights. Yeah, this crop of 135-pounders can't compare to the kind that were produced in boxing's heyday, but it's become one of modern boxing's best and most competitive divisions.

A bizarre circumstance occurred earlier in Biloxi, Miss., where unbeaten Juan Guzman first missed weight by nearly four pounds Friday for his fight against Campbell, then chose on Saturday not to fight at all, claiming he didn't feel well.

That absurdity made it easier to appreciate Marquez's greatness and professionalism. Fighters like him don't come around all that often. He's the kind of guy who fights whoever is put in front of him, who leaves everything he has in the ring and who is the epitome of a professional.

He's spent much of his career in the shadow of higher profile fighters, but that should begin to change.

Whether you thought he won the rematch with Pacquiao or not, it's clear it was a brilliant and exceedingly close fight.

On Saturday, he managed to drop the iron-chinned Casamayor twice and become the first man to stop him.

Beristain said it annoys him that Marquez has never been widely enough appreciated.

"He is such a humble and quiet guy and he never tells you how good he is," Beristain said. "All he does is get up in that ring and fight and win. He's what every trainer would want his fighter to be."

Pacquiao may be a little faster and a little stronger, and maybe even a little better.

Maybe.

They've put on two of the 10 best fights of the decade and it would be cheating the public not to have them fight again.

Once the circus is over in December, the first move that Arum and Schaefer should make is to get Marquez and Pacquiao back into the ring with each other.

That, and not a bout like De La Hoya-Pacquiao, is what this sport craves.