Hector’s Headlines

Juan Manuel Marquez wins in Mexico – Scheduled to fight at Cowboys Stadium in June of 2012

In what was believed to be a short night for Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6, 39KO’s), current WBO light Welterweight champion, it turned out to be a full night’s work. Marquez took the fight to Serhiy Fedchenko (30-1, ), but the lanky and taller Ukranian held his own. In the early rounds, the bulked up Marquez was able to connect with his punches, but Fedchenko stood his ground and fired right back. To the amusement to the Mexican crowd, Fedchenko had the audacity to showboat in the third round, but after a few hard body punches and rights to the face, he changed his attitude. Throughout the fight, Marquez connected with both hands and started landing crisp uppercuts. In the end, Marquez’ crisp punches that were landing on Fedchenko’s face were evident at the end as Fedchenko was bleeding from his nose and looking the worst for the wear. Marquez went on to win by unanimous decision and the scorecards read 119-109, 118-110 (twice). This title makes Marquez a world champion in four different weight classes, putting him in the category of other world class Mexican champions, such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Erik Morales, and Marco Antonio Barrera, to name a few. Marquez was scheduled to have a possible fight with Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, this coming June, but that is up in the air, because of the poor performance Rios had with his controversial win over Richard Abril (17-3-1).

Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios gets split decision against Abril in Vegas

Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (30-0-1) failed to make weight for the second time in a row, and he fought the way he looked at the weigh-in, exhausted. In rounds one through three he started off good, as he forced the action as Abril (17-3-1) moved backward and held on to Rios when the action was in close. Throughout the fight, Abril used his reach to land quick combinations and occasionally he threw flurries of quick punches. His punches had no effect on Rios, and every time Rios did get in close, Abril tied him up. Toward the end of the fight, Rios’ corner pleaded with him to turn it up, but Rios never could land any hard punches on Abril. The entire fight was a clinch and hold match, and even as exhausted as Rios was, the light punching Abril could still not hurt Rios. Rios will most likely move up to 140 pounds and he might get a chance against Juan Manuel Marquez at the Texas Stadium in June of this year. The scorecards read 116-112, 115-113, 117-111, although the actual fight looked in favor of Abril.