I do not know what initiated the fierce rivalry between Mexican and Puerto Rican boxers or even when it actually started. Al , the barber, who knows more about sweet science than most experts combined, told me that it started in Canada in 1934 when Puerto Rican, Sixto Escobar knocked out Rodolpho Casanova in the ninth round for the bantamweight tile.” World bantamweight title!” exclaimed Al, the barber:” None of those B.S. trinkets like NABO or IBO or any other letters of alphabet, they give out these days, a real championship belt.” That fight took place even before my parents were born.
However, there are some furious battles in the eighties that are still vivid in my memory. Who could forget when late Mexican great Salvador Sanchez knocked out undefeated Puerto Rican star Wilfredo Bazooka Gomez in their memorable 1981 featherweight championship battle at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas? And who could forget that the very next year Wilfredo Gomez stopped Mexican Lupe Pintor in the fourteenth stanza of their super bantamweight championship battle at the Superdome in New Orleans. One of the most grueling fights I have ever seen was later named by the Ring Magazine a fight of the eighties.
1987, Las Vegas, Hilton Hotel, Mexican ring legend Julio Cesar Chavez knocked out Puerto Rican Edwin Rosario for the lightweight belt in the eleventh round. I could go on and on about the intense rivalry that rages on till today.
Would this Saturday night featherweight championship battle between Puerto Rican , Juan Manuel Lopez and Mexican Rafael Marquez be worthy of continuous contention? Twelve round WBO feather weight title bout, which will be televised live by Showtime Championship boxing, is scheduled to take place on the biggest stage for both warriors at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“I think it is the biggest rivalry in boxing," said Lopez, who will be defending his featherweight crown:" We've had some great fights, but it's not just the fights. We've also had some great fighters, some true legends."
Uncharacteristically, the quiet Mexican warrior, Rafael Marquez is taken by the rivalry.“I have a lot of respect for Juanma’s talents,” said Marquez at the press conference in Las Vegas:” I believe he is a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter. I don’t think the fight will go the distance and I know Juanma won’t be the winner.”
“I know that I read that the team of Rafael Marquez said that I have no chin, said Lopez who usually does most of his talking in the ring:” But the one that is undefeated is me. I know he has won a few fights by knock out, but on Saturday night you’ll see who really can take a punch and who can’t. And one time Gary Shaw told me if you’re so good how come you don’t fight Rafael Marquez. I’m so good I’m going to beat Rafael Marquez on Saturday.”
“When Juan Manuel won his first title he told the world at the post conference that he wanted to fight the best in the world and the first two names he mentioned that night were Rafael Marquez and Israel Vazquez,” said Orlando Pinero, Lopez’s manager:” This Saturday up in the ring is Rafael Marquez and he is expecting a great war. You are going to see a great war between Puerto Rico and Mexico.”
Contact Igor Frank at axident@pacbell.net or check out Southern California Boxing Blog.
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