ShoBox: The New Generation Returns on October 1

Added on Sep 23, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Next Friday evening the Showtime network’s ShoBox: The Next Generation series returns to the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California where Tim “The Pitbull” Coleman squares off against Patrick “El Elegante” Lopez in a 12 round junior welterweight clash which will serve as the fight cards main event. The co-feature of the evening will pit Albuquerque’s Archie Ray Marquez along with Juan “Chago” Santiago in a eight-round lightweight contest.

Coleman (17-1-1, 4 KOs), is no stranger to the ShoBox fight series considering the lone loss of his career was a part of the series coming in the form of a unanimous decision loss to James De La Rosa nearly two years ago. Coleman moved on and registered a TKO win over less than stellar competition before outpointing the unheralded Martinus Clay to conclude their scheduled eight rounder. Despite the sub par opposition, Coleman was given the biggest opportunity of his growing career when he took on “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis for the vacant USBA junior welterweight title. At the end of 12 rounds it was Coleman’s will to press the action that caught the eye of two ringside judges giving him the razor thin split decision. Despite being inactive for nearly ten months, Coleman is ranked in the top 20 by both the WBC and the IBF. He looks to crack the top 15 in both organizations with a win over Lopez, whom he is far from in awe of.

“I guess [Lopez] is a strong guy. He went to the Olympics twice. I don’t know; I feel like if I lived in Venezuela , I would have [gone] to the Olympics twice, too,” a brash Coleman stated recently.

Lopez (20-2, 12 KOs) made his Olympic debut in 2000 and returned in 2004. In all, Lopez took part in nearly 300 amateur bouts. He’s now a fiveyear veteran in the professional ranks and is riding a fivefight winning streak since dropping a split decision to Josesito Lopez in April of 2009. The most recent outing for Lopez came just last month in Chicago where he stopped previously undefeated Pernice Brewer in the third round which helped to solidify his top ten ranking in the WBA.

While Lopez hasn’t yet made an official statement regarding the fight, his trainer and manager had this to say: “I saw Tim Coleman fight Mike Arnaoutis,” Lopez’s manager and trainer Julio Pena said. “I have a lot of respect for every fighter. I know that he’s being trained by Roger Mayweather, which is pretty good. It makes me feel like I really want to work harder for this one because of all the respect we have for the Mayweather people. But at the end of the night, it’s not the trainers – it’s the fighters.”

In the televised opener, ShoBox viewers will get another opportunity to watch the undefeated 22 year old Archie Ray Marquez (10-0, 7 KOs) as he returns to the squared circle following, without a doubt, the biggest win of his young career which was a one sided decision over Derrick Campos. Marquez appears to be confident in what would be the 11th win of his career next Friday night.

“I’d say I’m a boxer-puncher,” Marquez said. “Whatever they bring, I can adjust to it. I can jab and move around, use a lot of angles, and sometimes I go forward. It all depends what the fighter brings to me.”

What Juan Santiago (13-4-1, 8 KOs) will be looking to bring to the ring with him is some consistency as he once again steps up in the level of opposition. He seemed to be on his way with a optimal start as he took on Ty Barnett which ultimately ended with Santiago needing just a few ticks under three minutes to be declared the victor. Things would soon fall to the wayside when he challenged Eloy Perez for the vacant WBO NABO 130 lb. title which resulted in a stoppage by referee Dan Stell in favor of Perez.

Santiago came up just a bit short earlier in the year as Vernon Paris was able to keep his unbeaten streak intact taking a razor thin split decision win after eight rounds. Most recently Santiago regained some of his momentum when he knocked out Donaldo Holguin in the tenth round thus earning the division’s WBC Latino title.

It will be interesting to see if the Santiago that faced Barnett and Holguin shows up or if it will be the Santiago that didn’t fare nearly as well against Perez and Paris. Whichever one it is, it will be interesting to see if Marquez will be able to handle it either way, as he claims he will. It’s an intriguing matchup that even has Showtime commentator Steve Farhood looking forward to calling it ringside.

“Marquez-Santiago is also a boxer-puncher type match,” he said. “ Santiago proved his toughness on ShoBox against Vernon Paris, and Marquez will be looking to do what he does so well –moving and changing angles. This fight will be a very interesting contrast in styles.”