By Rob Moore: 37-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KO’s) rolled over little known Colombian Likar Ramos (24-4, 18 KO’s) in a 1st round knockout on Saturday night in a tune-up bout for Marquez at the Plaza de Toros, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The ended when Marquez hit an off balance Ramos with a right hand that knocked him down and seemingly out cold.
The fight was then stopped at 1:47 of the round by the referee while Ramos was attended to. The knockout left a lot of boxing fans crying foul, though, as many of them were left with the impression that Ramos was faking. It’s impossible to know, but what we do know is that this fight was not a good tune-up bout for Pacquiao. What Marquez needed was at least a somewhat stiff test and what he got was a the opposite of that.
Ramos was only hit with three right hands in the entire round before caving in. Marquez didn’t have to risk much in this fight. If he had lost to Ramos, he would have ruined his big payday against Pacquiao. Perhaps it really didn’t matter whether Marquez got a good fight or not, because he’s goes to be in trouble against Pacquiao in their fight on November 12th. If nothing else, the catchweight of 144 lbs will do Marquez in.
On the undercard, Marquez’s brother Rafael Marquez defeated Eduardo Becerril by a 6th round stoppage. Rafael, at one time a very good fighter, looked slow from age and not in the best of shape as he plodded around the ring nailing an over-matched opponent. It was good to see Rafael coming back from his loss to Juan Manuel Lopez but he looked bad and seems to have aged since that fight.
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