For a weekend without a “premier” boxing card on one of the major networks, there was certainly a ton of action from all over the place. All weekend long there were great fights to watch, and fights with important implications. Check out a weekend wrapup of some of the notable encounters, including Juan Manuel Marquez’s fantastic, quick effort in his tuneup fight prior to facing Manny Pacquiao once again, and much more.
Marquez KO1 Likar Ramos
The Marquez vs. Pacquiao III fight has basically been a done deal since early May, even before Pacquiao fought Mosley. But Marquez hadn’t fought since last December, and he didn’t want to be so inactive prior to facing the Pacman.
So he took a tuneup fight against Likar Ramos to keep himself busy, and he needed to win in order to secure the Pacquiao fight. Win he did, and it didn’t take him very long. Marquez scored a first round KO over Ramos, putting him down in a heap on the canvas with a stiff punch to the jaw. Pacquiao vs. Marquez III will now be good to go.
While there is no way to prepare yourself to fight somebody like Pacquiao, Marquez stayed busy, went through a training camp, and got to step through the ropes for a real fight, even if it didn’t take him very much effort to secure the win.
Results from the UK: Murray-Mitchell & Burns-Cook
Ricky Burns defended his WBO super featherweight strap by stopping Nicky Cook in the first round of their heated and highly anticipated matchup. Cook formerly held the same belt, before losing it to the man that Burns eventually took it from. Burns put Cook down early, including perhaps landing an illegal blow to the back, which apparently injured Cook and left him unable to properly defend himself or continue. Cook was taken out via stretcher after Burns put him down to the canvas once more and continued to apply more pressure.
In another intriguing UK matchup, which lightweight would make it out and declare himself ready for the world scene? Kevin Mitchell was looking to rebound after his blowout loss to Michael Katsidis, and John Murray was looking to remain undefeated. Mitchell got his way in the bout, sending Murray down in the 8th and then continuing to pour it on until it was called off, earning the TKO victory.
Brian Viloria vs. Julio Cesar Miranda
Brian Viloria took home the WBO flyweight title, defeating Julio Cesar Miranda in front of a hometown crowd in Hawaii. Viloria actually knocked Miranda down in the first, but the fight would go to the scorecards, where Viloria got the unanimous nod. It’s another career revival of sorts for Viloria, who has sandwiched impressive showings and title winning efforts in between disappointing losses and lots of jumping around and between weight classes. With the strong showing here, it seems that flyweight is best for Viloria moving forward, and now we’ll see if he can defend that belt and string together multiple successful efforts in a row.
Of course, there was much more boxing action this weekend, on TV and around the globe. Check out these full stories, covering the rest of the boxing news and results from the past few days:
