“Juanma” Lopez Will Have to Wait as Bout With Rafael Marquez is Postponed

Added on Aug 21, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Followers of the sweet science recieved a touch of bad news today as it was announced by Top Rank Promotions that the highly anticipated clash between former super bantamweight and current WBO Featherweight Champion Juan Manuel Lopez (29-0, 26 KOs) as he puts his title on the line against Mexican slugger Rafael Marquez (39-5, 35 KOs). Originally scheduled for September 18, boxing fans will have to wait an additional four weeks to see the two combatants wage war.

The bout which was to be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and televised live on Showtime Championship Boxing is officially on hold due to an injury sustained by the younger brother of Juan Manuel Marquez.

“I was told that Rafael injured the thumb on his right hand when it got caught in the door of a vehicle,” said Gary Shaw, Marquez’s co-promoter. “He then tried to work through the pain in training camp but it only made the injury worse. On his doctor’s orders, Rafael will abstain from any activity with hand for a few weeks to allow it to heal properly.”

“I’m very disapointed but I know that these things happen in boxing. I hope the fight gets rescheduled soon and look forward to fighting Rafael Marquez,” said Lopez

“Juanma” Lopez turned pro in early 2005 as a super bantamweight and reeled off 13 consecutive wins before claiming the WBO Latino Super Bantamweight title with a spectacular third round TKO victory over Jose Alonso in his native land of Puerto Rico.

After successfully defending his regional strap on four occasions Top Rank Promoter Bob Arum deemed his young fighter ready to challenge the hard hitting Daniel Ponce de Leon for his WBO Super Bantamweight title in June of 2008 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Lopez needed just 2:25 to claim the first championship of his career and flooring Ponce de Leon twice in the process, thus snapping a streak of six successful title defenses for Ponce de Leon.

Over the next year and a half Lopez defended his crown five times with four of those wins coming inside of the scheduled 12 rounds. He then would kick 2010 off in a new weight class as he immediately challenged WBO Featherweight king Steven Luevano in an attempt to win his second title in two different weight classes in his relatively young career. Lopez would knock the champion down in midway through their clash where referee Benjy Estevez Jr. shortly thereafter deemed Luevano unable to continue at the 2:16 mark of the seventh stanza.

Juanma’s latest bout was a wild two round affair with Bernabe Concepcion last month which found both boxers on the canvas with Lopez ultimately getting the TKO thus setting up one of the most intriguing and anticipated bouts of 2010 against the always exciting Mexico City native in Rafael Marquez.

The bout against Lopez will be just the third time that Marquez will step into the squared circle as a featherweight. His featherweight debut came against Jose Francisco Mendoza in May of 2009 which resulted in Marquez shaking off a bit of ring rust before rocking and then flooring Mendoza in the third round prompting referee Carlos Garcia to bring the fight to an early and appropriate conclusion.

Marquez’ most recent venture as a featherweight would be the finale of his epic quadrilogy with fellow Mexican slugger, Israel Vasquez. After dropping two of their first three encounters, Marquez was able to even the score as he sent Vasquez to the canvas before having his hand raised in victory after just two and a half rounds of thrilling back and forth action.

Both fighters will enter this match with an impressive combined record of 68-5 with 61 of those wins coming by way of knockout. Given their impressive past performances its no secret as to why fans were salivating at this bout coming to fruition.

Unfortunatelyn, the wait just grew a bit longer.

“Naturally we’re disappointed. Fortunately Marquez’s injury isn’t too serious,” said Todd duBoef of Top Rank. “We have already discussed the situation with the MGM Grand and Showtime and they both are working with us to find a new mutually acceptable date. JuanMa is very happy that he’ll still be able to fight one of Mexico’s greatest champions as well as the toughest opponent he has ever faced. We’re hopeful that we’ll have a new date to announce next week, along with information about ticket refunds for patrons who cannot travel on the new date.”