Beristain Speak on the Future of the Marquez Brothers

[evosbm]

Boxeo Notebook Beristain Speak on the Future of the Marquez Brothers

Ricardo Lois - 2/11/2005

A conversation with trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain revealed that reports of a bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Scott Harrison being close to finalized are erroneous.

Beristain took the opportunity to air his anger at Top Rank, which promotes the featherweight standout. Earlier this year, with negotiations for a rematch between Marquez and Manny Pacquiao stalled, Top Rank instead worked a deal for another one of their promotion’s fighter Erik Morales to battle the Filipino.

The maneuver by Top Rank, according to Beristain is typical of their dealings with Marquez. Nacho believes the promotion has only been interested in making Erik Morales a star and neglected Marquez’s career over the past years.

Juan Manuel and his brother Rafael, also managed and trained by Beristain, are near the end of their contractual obligations with Top Rank. While Nacho will maintain his professionalism and discuss the possibility of renewing both brothers’ contracts with Top Rank, it should be just viewed as a professional courtesy and the Marquez brothers can be expected to drop the Las Vegas based promotion.

Do not expect the Mexican belt holders to arrive on the steps of Golden Boy Promotions. Beristain feels that Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional firm has been structured much like Top Rank and does not feel Golden Boy Promotions would be a strong fit for the brothers.

One has to wonder which promotional firm would fit Beristain’s fancy. Though a magnificent fighter, Juan Manuel Marquez does not have the popular following necessary for the monetary demands he presents and Rafael is a splendid fighter in a weak and unpopular weight class of one hundred and eighteen pounds.

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JMM will definitely have a hard time looking for the right promoter with his kind of attitude towards money and fight opportunities that he showed when he was about to fight the Pacman. i guess he'll be cold away from the big fights for sometime before he gets another chance.

[AIR_KENG]

he should talk with hbo to have a clear blockbuster future for those two, lol...

[evosbm]

he should talk with hbo to have a clear blockbuster future for those two, lol...

even so. he still cant have any if he always ask for an impossble purse.

[Marjoh]

JMM is a good fighter. I give him that. But he, or at least Beristsain, needs to realize that JMM is not as big (name) as they think he is. So they need to stop asking for a huge amount of money till they mark themselves up. His belts doesn't mean anything nowadays. I mean where was he before the Pacquiao fight (outside the hardcore community)? Heck, after the Marquez-Pacquiao broke off, we haven't really heard any news regarding his next fight beside the possible Marquez-Harrison bout. Which not a lot seems interested after Scott's disappointing performance in his last fight. My take; sometimes sacrafice is needed for the better good.

And as for Rafael? Well, I agree that weight below feather is not big. So perhaps he could step up? They would be like the featherweight version of the Klitschkos. Only more skilled.

[adrsan84]

They should focus on Rafael Marquez the way he hits, if he moves up and keeps his power he can become a feared fighter who can get some decent money fight.

[amaru]

no matter what happens i still hope that a marquez vs pacquiao rematch fight will still happen in the near future.

[evosbm]

no matter what happens i still hope that a marquez vs pacquiao rematch fight will still happen in the near future.

everybody hope so. but JMM knows he'll be in big trouble when he faces Pacquiao. and its an obvious reason why he let the rematch sliped off his grip. where would JMM be after he lose a fight with Pacman? and what would everybody think regarding their first encounter after losing to their rematch? IMHO, i respect JMM's counter punching talent. but he knows that Roach and Pacquiao exposed his weakness. that is he only relys on his opponent's lead before he could get to his beautiful combos. but if his opponent would keep him guessing like giving fake shots and keep his guard on his opponent's other hand then surprise him with the other, he'll be in wonderland in no time.

[evosbm]

in a match up specially between skilled and good fighters, you seldom see a fighter go down more than once specially in 1st round. but imagine in JMM's entire career, only Pacman gave him a BIG clean 3x KD in 1st rd. if he realy is that good to match up against Pacman, then what the hell just happened? did he realy schooled Pacman after 2nd rd or was he just lucky that his opponent was injured? that was the BIG question that he chose not to be answered by asking for an impossible purse. why? he knew what everybody would think about it but he did it anyway.

[Stickman]

in a match up specially between skilled and good fighters, you seldom see a fighter go down more than once specially in 1st round. but imagine in JMM's entire career, only Pacman gave him a BIG clean 3x KD in 1st rd. if he realy is that good to match up against Pacman, then what the hell just happened? did he realy schooled Pacman after 2nd rd or was he just lucky that his opponent was injured? that was the BIG question that he chose not to be answered by asking for an impossible purse. why? he knew what everybody would think about it but he did it anyway.

It takes a round or two to figure out a fighter you've never faced, and Pacman is a dangerous fighter until you figure him out. Just look at his record. Marquez went down 3 times in round one, and then started slipping Pacman's bigger shots, and countering them. Whether Pacman was truly injured or not is hard to say...it could've been a ploy to explain his inability to put Juan Marquez away, or it could've been legitimate. Either way, he was still throwing his big shots, he just wasn't landing them the way he was in round 1 because Marquez had him timed and was slipping those shots and countering them. You have to give major credit to Marquez for making it through round 1, and coming back to fight a great fight. It showed heart, and professionalism.

And regarding a rematch, I don't blame Marquez for asking for big money. When you're 43-2-1 (33 KO's) with both losses being way back in your career, risking a big loss (not to mention two belts) against a big-name puncher should get you big bucks, and I feel he deserved equal money against Pacman. And when you consider that Marquez was the only opponent in recent times that Pacman couldn't put away, and who, in fact, won the vast majority of the fight after the first round, you can see why he should get at least equal money, and personally I think he should've gotten the larger share, had they come to any sort of agreement.

Marquez is far more skilled than Pacquiao, but Manny has that lightning fast straight left that he manages to catch almost everyone one with, and few can take it. But he can be beat; both his losses were KO's in the 3rd, and Marquez had him wobbly at least twice. I think that in a rematch, Pacman would come out hard and strong in the first round, but this time would be different because Marquez has his number already, and I think Marquez would put Pacman down in 5 or 6.

[Pullcounter]

re

JMM has to try to get fights w/ MaB and Morales, and even take short money for the opportunity to ***** agaisnt 2 of the world's p4p best.

Anything short of that and JMM will be fighting mandatories for the rest of his sad sad sad sad life.