13.9.08

Round by Round: Casamayor v. J.M. Marquez

Tonight's main event is for the Ring Magazine lightweight championship of the world. Casamayor is the defending champion. Marquez is moving up a weight class for this title fight.

As the fighters enter the crowd shows that they are clearly there for Marquez. Marquez is 48-4, while Casamayor is 37 years old and has a record of 36-3.

Round 1:
Casamayor starts by coming forward first. JMM throws and lands a great right counter shot and staggers Casamayor. Casamayor lands a solid right set up by a jab. Both fighters look slightly hesitant to throw a punch, but once one lands they both start throwing bombs. Casamayor gets in a good left that snaps Marquez's head back. Casamayor looks like the aggressor in the first round. Casamayor lands another good left hand. The first round is close.

Spartan117: 10-9 Casamayor

Round 2:
The fighters come out again feeling each other out. JMM throws a punch and Casamayor counters. JMM starts coming forward now. Casamayor looks to have a slight edge in speed. Neither fighter is landing much in the second. Marquez lands a good uppercut and Casamayor lands a good left. The crowd is certainly into this fight as you can hear many screams and a lot of cheering.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 3:
Casamayor gets busier in the third and starts throwing some good combos. JMM blocks most of it but takes a right at the tail end. JMM answers with a great right and backs up Casamayor. Now Casamayor throws back and lands a good right hand that was set up by the jab. JMM lands a shot below the belt and the ref tells him to keep his punches up. It looked accidental. Casamayor now starts moving forward but both fighters are throwing a lot of flurries. Both are throwing more than they are landing.

Spartan117: 10-9 Casamayor

Round 4:
Marquez now starts more combos at the start of the fourth. Three of the four punches land. JMM is looking sharper in this round. He is now becoming the aggressor and landing a lot. Casamayor is still doing a good job countering and lands a left hook to back JMM off. Casamayor lands another great counter that JMM never saw coming. JMM starts coming in again and lands a lot but Casamayor gets in a great counter at the end. Casamayor uses good movement to get out of the way of some big shots. Tough round to score.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 5:
Casamayor starts the round by coming forward. He looks to set up combos with his jab but JMM starts a flurry to beat him to it. Casamayor lands another good counter punch. JMM gets in a solid right hand. JMM is told again to keep his punch up but the body shot looked legal to me. A cut has opened over the eye of Casamayor. It looks like it's starting to bother him. JMM gets a good combo to back Casamayor into the ropes. He fights out but only receives another hard combo. Casamayor clinches to end the round.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 6:
JMM gets in a great combo upstairs and Casamayor looked bothered. Casamayor isn't backing down and comes forward to land a combo of his own. The two clash heads and Marquez looks upset by it. The ref separates them and tells them to watch heads. Marquez is now gunning for Casamayor's eye with the cut. JMM gets in another good right and snaps Casamayor back. Blood from Casamayor's nose starts to pour. Casamayor is taking more punishment as the fight moves on.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 7:
Casamayor looks to be back on his game in the seventh. JMM comes right back and answers with a big combo upstairs. Casamayor lands a shot that is way below the belt. The ref tells Casamayor to keep his punches up. JMM is landing better shots in these middle rounds. Casamayor lands a straight right to show that he shouldn't be counted out yet. JMM goes to work on the body now and finishes with a cross to the head.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 8:
JMM looks to be getting more comfortable in every round. Casamayor comes out swinging at the start of the rounds but fades towards the end. Casamayor gets in a good left hand to the head of JMM. Casamayor looks to be getting back to counter-punching and lands two great shots that knock Marquez off balance. He now lands another great straight right. Casamayor is doing a better job in this round, landing some great counter shots.

Spartan117: 10-9 Casamayor

Round 9:
JMM wants to get back to landing combos and throws some flurries. Casamayor is back to counterpunching which worked well in the earlier rounds. JMM lands a good right hook that knocks back Casamayor. Casamayor gets in a great left counter that has been landing all night. Casamayor lands another left counter. Casamayor now doing a better job dodging JMM's flurries.

Spartan117: 10-9 Casamayor

Round 10:
More of the same happens at the start of the 10th: Marquez tries to go with the flurry and Casamayor lands a great counter left. Now both fighters throw big shots on the inside; not much lands. Both fighters trade swift right hands. JMM lands a huge right and Casamayor drops his gloves to taunt. It was the biggest shot of the night for him. JMM hits Casamayor while his hands are down. JMM is now landing at a much higher percentage. Casamayor keeps shaking his head after every shot but it is clearly bothering him.

Spartan117: 10-9 Marquez

Round 11:
Both fighters stay active as we get to the later rounds. Neither seems to be letting up at all. JMM gets in a good right hand that lands flush. Casamayor clinches. Casamayor now lands another stiff counter left. JMM gets in a great punch to the body. JMM lands another good right followed by a left. JMM lands a huge right hand and Casamayor goes down. Casamayor looks seriously hurt. Casamayor gets up and swings wildly but JMM pressures him and lands huge shots that are too much for Casamayor. Casamayor falls in a heap and the ref stops the fight.

The winner by TKO at 2:55 of Round 11... and new Ring Magazine lightweight champion... Juan Manuel Marquez.

Marquez says that he came well prepared and he wanted to put on a fight for the Mexican fans. He is asked if he thinks he sent a message to Pacquiao. Marquez responds that Pacquiao is a great fighter, but he will fight anyone who his promoter sets him up with. He then says that Casamayor was the best lightweight, but now he feels he is the best fighter in the world.

3 comments:

uatu said...

wow! this was the one outcome that did not seem possible

uatu said...

even more incredible is that franchise predicted jmm by late round ko

Nick Tylwalk said...

I think conventional wisdom was against it, doubting whether JMM would actually be able to hurt Casamayor. I just had a gut feeling JMM would win, and if he did he'd get the KO, and sometimes you have to go with that.