[kenyan_cheena]

EL UNIVERSAL

Sunday 19 March 2006

MARQUEZ STOPS ORTIZ
IN 10TH, ADDS WBA BELT
TO COLLECTION!

Story by Miguel Trelles

In one of the most anticipated world title fights in years Mexico's Patricio Marquez scored a 10th round TKO victory over the Dominican Republic's Francisco Ortiz last night at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. In achieving victory Marquez retained his WBC lightweight championship and also claimed Ortiz's WBA belt, joining Jamaica's Mike McCallum (WBC & IBF junior-middleweight) and the Welshman Jim Driscoll (WBA & WBC featherweight) as the only active fighters to currently hold multiple world titles. A native of Sonora, Marquez celebrated his 31st birthday last Tuesday and gave himself a belated gift, his record improving to 42-2-1(34) while Ortiz fell to 35-2(29).

These two outstanding combatants have been on a collision course ever since winning their respective titles within weeks of each other in June (Marquez) and July (Ortiz) of 2003 and had both made at least a half-dozen defenses leading into their clash. For a time last night's fight looked like it would never happen as both camps found it difficult to settle on a split of the purse in addition to a number of other more minor details. But those problems were eventually resolved, paving the way for what was regarded by many as a fight that could really help to revive the flagging interest in boxing amongst the general sports-loving public. Whether it does that or not remains to be seen, although it must be said that the pay-per-view numbers were some of the strongest in the last three years for a title fight.

But did the actual contest itself live up to the hype? It certainly did. The Tropicana's arena was jam-packed with fans of both men, numerous celebrities from the world of entertainment also amongst the crowd. There was a celebratory atmosphere in the air and each fighter was greeted with a thunderous ovation as they made their way to the ring. Marquez was the a slight favourite and confirmed why in the opening round, coming out the aggressor and pressing Ortiz. He kept the momentum in round two before the Dominican Republic native produced some effective work behind a stinging jab in the 3rd. Marquez was back in control in the 4th, after which Ortiz was showing some swelling under his right eye. His corner crew worked feverishly on it during the intermission and implored him to go back to using his jab. Their advice seemed to fall on deaf ears as Ortiz kept on trying to brawl and when Marquez rocked him with a left hook midway through round six he appeared to be comfortably in control.

But Ortiz was not going to simply lie down and give the Mexican his belt and his retort was stunning and unexpected. He sent Marquez to the canvas for just the third time in his career thirty seconds into the 7th, a left-right salvo planting the WBC champ on his backside. Ortiz went all-out trying to finish his man off but astonishingly Marquez rallied late in the round, a booming right hand putting Ortiz on his heels and on the defensive for the rest of the stanza. The 8th and 9th were even and hard-fought and as the bout entered round ten it was impossible to tell who would emerge victorious. Marquez made the picture a little bit clearer when he dropped Ortiz with an accumulation of shots midway through the round. Up at six he was down again almost immediately, a left hook taking his legs out from underneath him. The brave warrior refused to give in and climbed back to his feet at the eight count.

Referee Jimmy Haye looked set to stop the fight but allowed Ortiz to continue. Marquez rushed him and unloaded with a left-right-left flurry, sending Ortiz into the ropes helplessly at which point Haye jumped in and halted the contest, Marquez the victor at the 2:11 mark of the 10th round. His corner crew flooded the ring and embraced him jubilantly before lifting him onto their shoulders and parading him around the ring. Marquez approached Ortiz shortly after and exchanged words of admiration with him, the two warriors receiving a huge round of applause from the crowd. Marquez was gracious in victory, saying what an honour and achievement it was to add the title of the World Boxing Association to his WBC belt and that he would love to go at it with Ortiz again in the future. He was asked about the recent contract offer tabled to him by the International Boxing League, to which he replied quite adamantly.

"My loyalty is to the WBC," Marquez said. "They are the ones who have helped me make it possible for my family to escape poverty, for me to help others in my community who are less fortunate than I am. They have been fantastic for me and I will never forget that. Why would I turn my back on them to go and fight for someone who has no experience in this business? For money? Please, I would never sell myself out like that. My loyalty will always be with the WBC but now I guess some of it is reserved for the WBA also. I never thought the day would come when I'd win a second title so this is pretty incredible."

Marquez is one of eight current Mexican world champions across boxing's fifteen weight classes. Two of the other seven successfully defended their titles on last night's undercard. WBC junior-featherweight champion Jesus Carrillo improved to 25-1-1(17) with a 4th round knockout of the Californian Michael Tate while WBO welterweight champ Enrique Diaz was too good for Puerto Rico's Carmelo Barea, defeating him by 12-round unanimous decision to retain his belt for a fifth time.