Marquez-Ramos: The Tune-up Fight That Never Was

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This was the Juan Manuel Marquez - Likar Ramos fight yesterday. Marquez is already starting to prepare for his much awaited 3rd fight against our Pambansang Kamao, the pound for pound king, Manny Pacquiao, after drawing the first fight and losing on a close split decision on the 2nd.

After  some inactivity for some time, Marquez camp felt he needs a tune up fight before the November big showdown. So they looked for a fighter that could perhaps remove some rustiness due to the long lay-off. And they found this Colombian young fighter. And we, knowing the closeness of the first two fights between Pacquiao and Marquez wanted to see Marquez now to assess his condition.

We were  duped. The fight was a joke. And the Marquez camp didn't get what they wanted. With only one  big right, Ramos immediately fell down in deep slumber with over a minute left in the first round. Why, he even lay on the floor longer that the actual fight.

They chose not just a "lightweight," they chose a pasty. My kids were more amused looking at him unconscious from just that one punch. And to think that Marquez is not even noted as a knock-out artist. Known more as an effective counter puncher, he wins more on decisions and  knocks out his opponents only in later rounds.

Understandably, tune-up matches, being warm up fights, "easy" fighters are chosen to make sure of victory. This time however, they chose a lemon. And it just didn't serve their purpose. The audience was cheated.

The last time I remember a fight where the champion chose a wrong guy as his warm-up opponent was many years ago, in the early 2000's. The challenger was injured and could not be available for the fight, an under card to big, big fight in the US. So his handlers chose a relatively "unknown and relatively easy" boxer from the Philippines on short notice as replacement. The champion was a feared African fighter named Ledho Ledwaba.

The result? The unknown boxer from the Philippines knock him out cold in the 5th round to unexpectedly wrest the crown. The name of that Filipino boxer was Manny Pacquiao. The rest, they say, is history.

Check out Boxing Scene for the brief footage.