Marquez proves worth as heavy favorite in first lightweight fight

By Jeff Haney

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Late money at the betting window has a reputation for being smart money.

This time, the opposite was true.

Wagers supporting lightweight veteran Joel Casamayor drove down the betting line from 4-1 in favor of Juan Manuel Marquez to just 3-1 by the opening bell Saturday at the MGM Grand.

Yet Casamayor could not keep up with Marquez’s deft combinations, Marquez’s overall boxing skills or, ultimately, Marquez’s power.

In his first fight at 135 pounds, Marquez dropped Casamayor twice in the 11th round to score a technical knockout before a crowd of 7,882 at the Grand Garden Arena, adding Casamayor’s Ring Magazine title belt to his previous world championships at featherweight and super featherweight.

The victory set the stage for potential lightweight showdowns with such belt-holders as Juan Diaz or Nate Campbell. A third match with Manny Pacquiao also remains a possibility, although Pacquiao fights Marquez’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya in a December megabout.

“Juan Manuel Marquez has proven to the world he can go up in weight class, challenge the best lightweight in the world and be victorious,” De La Hoya said.

“Obviously we’re leaving the door wide open for Juan Manuel Marquez. He jumped up to 135 and made a huge statement in this division. I believe the future is very bright at 135 pounds for Juan Manuel Marquez.”

Casamayor, who was stopped for the first time in his 12-year professional career, described himself as “devastated” and “in shock” after the TKO. He called for a rematch and summarily ruled out retirement.

Instead, Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 knockouts) said he plans to stick around indefinitely, presenting a tough obstacle — but not necessarily one with a huge upside — for fighters seeking a claim at supremacy in the division.

Reflecting Casamayor’s tricky style, the judges’ scorecards were quite divergent Saturday night. Two judges had it 95-95 after 10 rounds, with the third scoring it 97-93 for Marquez. At least one judge ruled in favor of Casamayor in eight of the first 10 rounds.

The Sun’s scorecard had Marquez more firmly in control, awarding the new champ seven of the first 10 rounds.

“Joel is a great fighter so I wasn’t surprised it was a tough fight,” said Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs), who has a loss and a draw to Pacquiao. “He was the best lightweight in the world and he has great counterpunches. But I was the more intelligent fighter. I was watching out for myself and I knew how to neutralize his left hand.”

Like Casamayor, Vernon Forrest won’t be going anywhere either, although Forrest had threatened to retire if he lost to Sergio Mora in the card’s top undercard bout.

Forrest cruised to a unanimous-decision victory to earn the world super welterweight title and avenge a loss to Mora in June.

Both fighters had vowed to improve for the rematch, leading to a minor classic of a quotation by Forrest after the decision was announced: “My better was better than his better.”

Forrest (41-3, 29 KOs) had asked for a “mulligan” after losing in his first fight with Mora (21-1-1, 5 KOs) and he made the most of it, winning by 118-109, 117-110 and 119-108 on the judges’ cards. The Sun’s scorecard had it 117-110.

Mora’s camp tried to lobby for a third match, with promoter Jeff Wald suggesting a winner-take-all format for the purse.

“This used to be called prizefighting,” Wald said. “If you’re confident about winning, you can get all the money.”

Forrest and his promoter, Gary Shaw, half-nodded, shrugged and made the old weighing-the-options motion with their palms turned up as they pretended to consider the offer.