Marquez Impressive In Ninth Round KO Of Jaca
By Jeremy Valdez (Nov 26, 2006) Photo © German Villasenor

Juan Manuel Marquez proved that he’s not just a master boxer, but that he can stand and fight in the face of adversity as he defeated Jimrex Jaca of the Philippines to retain his WBO interim featherweight title in front of an appreciative Texas crowd at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas for another televised installment of HBO’s ‘Boxing After Dark’ telecast.

Marquez started off slowly and in the first two rounds, was often beaten to the punch and looked to be a step slower than in past battles. From the third round on, however, Marquez showed why he is one of the best counterpunchers in the sport by constantly tagging Jaca with straight rights and uppercuts to take over the fight. Jaca gave a gutsy effort by
taking everything Marquez landed early on and landing his share of punches throughout, but was outgunned late.

In the fifth round, a clash of heads resulted in a deep cut on Marquez' forehead just above his right eye. From that point on, Marquez picked up the pace and was chasing Jaca around the ring, punishing him, while walking through anything Jaca could muster. In the eighth round, the heads came together again and the size of Marquez' cut doubled in an instant and his face was a bloody mess. In a strange moment during the round, the referee took Marquez over to the acting doctor and informed Marquez that he was leading on the scorecards if, indeed, he couldn't continue. How the referee knew this is unknown. Marquez didn't even seem to understand what he said and wanted to continue anyway.

Juan Manuel would become even more aggressive at this point and in the ninth round, landed a sweeping left hook that sent Jaca to the canvas. Jaca was dazed and seemingly didn't know where he was as he didn't even attempt to make the ten count. With this win, Marquez moves to 46-3-1 (35) and Jaca falls to 27-3-1 (12). The impressive win propels Marquez closer to the superfight that he desires, possibly against, arguably, boxing’s pound-for-pound best, Manny Pacquiao. The two fought to a 12-round draw back in 2004. If that fight doesn't happen for any particular reason, including possible litigation between Pacquiao and Golden Boy Promotions, who promotes Marquez, there are possible matchups between Marquez and WBC super featherweight beltholder Marco Antonio Barrera or WBO super featherweight titlist Joan Guzman, who are also promoted by Golden Boy and would be lucrative fights for all parties involved.