We begin with a Juanma Lopez story. It was January of 2007, and a few of us gathered in a Phoenix Days Inn conference room to hear Tommy Morrison announce his comeback. The press conference was scheduled to begin an hour before it began, but I arrived on time like a fool.
There was one other writer there, and he didn’t speak Spanish, so Top Rank’s Phil Soto motioned towards a group of Puerto Ricans in matching track suits and told me to be the first to interview Juan Manuel Lopez – the day before Juanma’s “ShoBox” debut.
Lopez has acquitted himself splendidly since then, of course, and faces the challenge of his career, Saturday, at MGM Grand against Mexican Rafael Marquez in a fight for Lopez’s WBO featherweight title. But that’s not the point of the story.
That day in the near-empty conference room, I strolled over to the guys in track suits, picked one who looked like a fighter and asked him how he got started in boxing. He was happy to tell me. His dad, or uncle, or somebody, took him to the gym and, why, he loved the sport and was excited to be in Phoenix – his first time. The guy beside him, a little younger and smaller, flashed a wide grin that didn’t leave his face for the next five minutes.
I was out of questions by then and began to move towards a seat from which I could watch Tommy Morrison spin his yarn. That was when the small kid with the big smile told me that, while his friend was indeed a Puerto Rican who loved boxing, he, Juanma, was the guy fighting on Showtime tomorrow, and would I like to ask him any of the same questions?
The following night, after Lopez looked fantastic against Cuauhtemoc Vargas, I hurried to escape an interview with Tommy Morrison. “The Duke” – as some doctor called him in a supposedly official medical document – wouldn’t be making his comeback fight that night because he’d hurt his wrist. This was no less believable than anything else Morrison would say in the months that followed, but it was already too much. I hustled up a back staircase at Dodge Theatre and came to an exit. There was Juanma, patiently knocking. I let him in, and he gave me a hug and told me to remember him because he was going to be a good fighter.
What struck me that week about Juanma Lopez was his poise. He was not in a hurry to become famous by manufacturing some cult-of-personality thing to get on American television. He was not trying too hard, in other words. He was relaxed and confident; he knew he was likable and good, and in time Americans would know that too.
He’s going to need that poise Saturday. The man who comes for his title, Rafael Marquez, has been in bigger fights against better fighters than Lopez has. Marquez has also been in the finest boxing trilogy many have yet witnessed, with Israel Vazquez. His right hand is arguably the most impressive weapon, pound-for-pound, boxing has seen in a generation.
And Lopez, for all his poise, hasn’t got boxing’s best chin. But neither does Marquez. And that’s why folks in the know are so excited about this fight.
When Marquez’s last match was announced, a fourth scrap with Vazquez, in Los Angeles, Marquez fans felt a touch of relief. Vazquez was a man of unmatchable will, but he was also a man with ruined flesh round his eyes. Their guy would cut him up before Vazquez could rend any wills. And that’s exactly what happened in May, though it happened quicker than expected. Vazquez did not last 10 minutes with Marquez.
In the euphoria of that post-fight press conference at Staples Center, Marquez, seated beside trainer Daniel Zaragoza, the man who’d replaced Nacho Beristain, mentioned Juanma Lopez, and we all gave the idea some thought. Far more thought than we might have given the same suggestion two years before – when Marquez was sent reeling across the ring in the 12th round of his third fight with Vazquez and needed 18 months to recover.
The idea of either Marquez or Vazquez moving up four pounds and challenging Lopez was not a serious one, then. It is now.
Lopez, a southpaw, has been felled by lesser men than Marquez. Rogers Mtagwa, a Tanzanian strongman who boxes about as well as Marquez did at age 10, had Lopez out on his feet not too long ago. And after his career’s most impressive showing against Steven Luevano in January, Lopez was in a thrilling match with Filipino Bernabe Concepcion in July. Too thrilling, actually. In two rounds, there were four knockdowns, and Concepcion’s trunks weren’t the only ones cleaning the canvas.
Both Lopez and Marquez can box. Quite well. And both have a tendency not to box until they’re very near unconsciousness. A firefight, you’d think, favors Lopez, the larger of the two men. But we can’t be too sure.
That’s why we’ll watch Showtime, Saturday. But it’s not the only reason. The undercard match, a super-middleweight fight between two subs – Allan Green and Glen Johnson – should be an entertaining way to do something that’s good for us and boxing, too: Support the “Super Six.” Boxing’s best idea has had a rocky go of things lately, so here’s hoping Green-Johnson will be a fitting good-riddance to Andre Dirrell.
The main event, though, is the reason to tune in. Two honest, exciting fighters who are respectful and admired by those who know them. Rumor is, Puerto Rican-versus-Mexican occasionally makes for a decent rivalry, too.
Give us a pick, then? Sure. Good as Marquez is, exciting as a victory by him would necessarily be, he’s not young enough or big enough to stop Lopez. So I’ll take Lopez by 10th-round KO – unless his eagerness runs him into a Marquez right hand.
Bart Barry can be reached at bbarry@15rounds.com. Additionally, his book, “The Legend of Muhammad Ali,” co-written with Thomas Hauser, can be purchased here.
