By Wray Edwards, all photos by Wray Edwards – Last night’s real Boxing match was between Mexican Raul Marquez and Giovanni Lorenzo, from the Dominican Republic, in an IBF eliminator. While Lorenzo had skills including mobility, perhaps he should have concentrated on the other abilities just a little more. He was, IMO, one of the better backwards runners this writer has ever seen. One can imagine him actually doing his road work looking more like a deep coverage linebacker than a boxer.
In fact, one could make a good case he lost 114/113 in the contest because he just ran too much. These photos show Raul carrying the fight to Giovanni as well as the price Marquez paid in blood to get his shot..
Lorenzo would peddle backwards around the ring often ending up on the ropes…
or in a corner as Raul did his best to deliver the goods.
Not that Lorenzo did not step in from time-to-time as Marquez occasionally backed away, but that was infrequent.
Then after squaring off…
it was back to the ropes for Lorenzo as he tried to counter from the cables and in the corners.
Between Rounds Marquez got great encouragement from his corner.
Back out on the canvass and squared off…
Lorenzo got too heady and had a point deducted for leading with his cabeza.
At the end of the tenth round (or was it the eleventh…eh…no matter) they got really tangled up and furiously wailed on each other after the bell. It took the ref a good ten seconds to pry the apart.
As the two boxers went at it round-after-round,
Marquez began to show the price he was paying to carry the action. He often waved Lorenzo in with invitations to mix it up. Lorenzo mostly declined (to boos from the crowd) mimicking Raul’s gestures. He showed heart and focus as Lorenzo danced away,
ending up at the ropes yet again. After the final bell, Photog Yamada to my left said, “It’s close, but I have it 114/113 for Marquez.”
So did the judges…unanimously.
After the fight Raul looked like he had been one. He won the contest by aggressive pursuit of the running man Lorenzo, and by delivering more scoring on target. The fact that Giovanni’s punches chopped Raul’s face up a bit, would seem to be an indication that he does have power and that Marquez still likes to bleed a bit.
Some may feel that Marquez is ready for the likes of Abraham, but after his trouncing of Miranda, one must be cautious. Perhaps Raul’s head movement is better than Miranda’s and his heart is strong enough, but it would be a very tall order. I would like to see him fight John Duddy before even thinking about Abraham.
That would accomplish two things. First, it would be a good payday against a fighter he can probably defeat, and it would be a good rust-preventer until a match with Arthur might be arranged. It would probably take place over there which would require him to KO the King. Even the WBA’s Felix Sturm would be an Okay tussle. Forget Kelley…Marquez is solid, but not in that company. See you at the fights.