By Richard McManus

In the mid-1990’s, boxing pundits and fans alike lauded the class of Welterweights inhabiting the division at the time as being part of a return to the “Golden Age”.  The ”Golden Age” most were referring to was the Middleweight class of the Mid-1980’s.  Back then, the Middleweight division was loaded with talented fighters like Marvin Hagler, Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran.  Fast-forward ten years and the Welterweight division was home to fighters like Felix Trinidad, Oscar de la Hoya, Ike Quartey and Pernell Whitaker. 

But there were other less popular and probably less talented fighters that dwelt just below the top tier of the 90’s “Golden Age”.  Fighters that, given a lucky break or a little more focus may have ended up in the same class as De la Hoya and Trinidad.  Namely fighters like Oba Carr, Ramon “Yory Boy” Campas and Jose Luis Lopez.  Carr earned several title shots and each time fell just short.  Campas was a devastating puncher but proved too slow to compete against De la Hoya and simply came along at the wrong time to beat a prime Felix Trinidad. 

Jose Luis “Maestrito” Lopez nearly stopped Ike Quartey late in their 1997 meeting in his attempt to capture Quartey’s WBA Welterweight belt.  But it just wasn’t meant to be.  Quartey hung on and went on to big money fights with Oscar de la Hoya and Fernando Vargas. 

He did though, capture the vacant WBO Welterweight belt with a 5th round stoppage of Campas.  And he was in some memorable fights including a 6th round knockout of Jorge Vaca, the stoppage of Campas, the aforementioned draw with Quartey and a brutal 12 round unanimous decision loss to the then WBA Welterweight king James Page.

Many fans wonder what happened to Lopez (48-4-2, 37KO). The Durango, Mexico native wowed boxing fans with world-class power and a chin of brick, and surely some fans wonder if he could have been a great Welterweight had he only been more focused and committed and if he had better management. 

The truth is, he made a comeback about a year and a half ago after a nearly four-year layoff and has put together four wins in four fights, two wins by knockout.

So what does this all have to do with Juan Manuel Marquez and his place in boxing lore? 

Well, Juan Manuel Marquez is another Mexican fighter, cut from a similar fabric, but perhaps more of a technical puncher than a brawler who came along at a time when the Featherweight division was deep, full of talent and brimming with potential match-ups.  The likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Naseem Hamed, Manny Pacquaio, and on and on all converged at or around 126.  

For years he bided his time waiting for the shot that finally came when he stepped through the ropes in 1999 against WBA Featherweight belt holder Freddie Norwood.  His performance in that bout was less than impressive however, as he failed to make any significant adjustments against the frustrating southpaw and ended up losing a unanimous decision. 

It would be nearly four years before Marquez would capture the IBF belt with a TKO win over Manuel Medina.  Following that fight, he actually unified the WBA and IBF belts with a one-sided technical decision win over Derrick Gainer. 

Six months later and Marquez was about to reach the top of the mountain.  In 2004, in a fight just about every boxing fan alive remembers, Manny Pacquaio stepped through the ropes against Marquez. Pacquaio came out like gangbusters and Marquez froze.  Three knockdowns in the first round and it was all Marquez could do to salvage a draw with a courageous comeback in that fight. 

But instead of a rematch, which was the logical next step and the thing just about every fan wanted to see, Marquez boxed both Victor Polo and Orlando Salido to unanimous decision wins in 2004 and 2005 and then traveled to Indonesia this year to defend his title against Chris John in a mandatory defense. 

Marquez earned and defended a major title belt.  But what did that do for him?  In the end, it was a major belt that had him fighting thousands of miles from home against a mandatory challenger for less than championship money.  And it was bad choices by his management and bad decisions on his part that made him turn down the mega-fight rematch with Manny Pacquaio. 

He hasn’t done what was necessary to be a great fighter.  And his management became the laughing stock of boxing for allowing him to travel to Indonesia to defend his belt in a mandatory defense against a lively and game opponent like Chris John. 

Aside from Marquez, the big loser in this equation is the boxing fan.  The boxing fan always loses in situations like this.  The truth is, Marquez is hardly ever featured in a big fight, he’s hardly ever on television and he fights far too infrequently.  Some of the fault has to fall on his shoulders and part of it falls on the shoulders of his management. 

The boxing public doesn’t care about belts; we care about fights.  The commission can always make it a 12-round fight through the use of some loophole or another.  It wouldn’t matter if Marquez forfeited his belt and went after the biggest fight available, regardless of who was the “mandatory” challenger. 

With Marquez now back home with Forum Boxing and with the management of his affairs taken out of the hands of his able trainer Nacho Beristain one can only hope that for Marquez’s sake this is the necessary and long overdue ingredient that can put him on top of the sport, a position he once seemed destined to take.

Jose Luis Lopez, on the other hand, was never in a position to defend his title against a mandatory challenger in a foreign land.  He did get a couple big shots though and if he would have been able to take advantage of the opportunity presented to him either in his fight with Page or in the 11th round in his bout with Ike Quartey he might have been remembered as part of the “Golden Age”.  But, like with Marquez, we are just left to wonder.

Lopez, like Marquez, didn’t make the most of his chances when they were presented.  Now, as Lopez campaigns at a Junior Middleweight against the like of Hugo Lomeli (5-6, 2KO) and Alberto Mercedes (12-11, 8KO) and Marquez ponders missed opportunities and bad boxing decisions we can remember the potential they showed and in reality both still posses, especially Marquez.  But for now, the opportunities have passed for both men.   

Contact Richard at rmcm12@hotmail.com