by German Villaseñor
The wars to come, AYALA VS ADAMS 2 and JOHNSON vs R. MARQUEZ.
On
Saturday, February the 23rd two rematches will be fought to settle respective
scores, on the CO-main event, Rafael Marquez (Juan Manuel Marquez younger
brother) will meet former p4p entrant and champion Mark''too sharp'' Johnson
to see who's the best and who really won the first fight.
This hell of a fight was not originally shown on U.S. TV (HBO) but Boxingladiators
got a hold of a copy from overseas TV and it was indeed a hell of a fight
for 10 rounds. The way we saw the fight, Johnson, looking sharp and strong
at the bantam weight was the quicker and many thought with his southpaw
and power punching style to completely outclass the more static and in
your face bomber in Marquez, yet the first half of the fight had Johnson
shooting a very fast and crisp jab which surely looked impressive but
one which surprisingly Marquez picked off and avoided quite easily, the
tide turned in the second half of the fight after Johnson tagged Marquez
and the end seemed within the 10 round distance, but Marquez cut off the
ring and pressured his way inside to land some heavy shots, which sent
Johnson into retreat mode and holding through spots from then on while
avoiding major punishment dished out from Marquez, he still got tagged
while doing some tagging of his own. Then in the 9th rd (if memory serves
correct) Johnson was holding too much trying to avoid going down from
the bombs Marquez was throwing and landing and and Johnson seemed to be
in serious trouble, and in the last rd more holding was done by Johnson
and at one point held Marquez head down with his arm while repeatedly
punching Marquez to the body almost in the back. This was reason enough
to take a point away, yet Johnson made it out of the torrid round. When
the cards were read they declared Johnson the winner somehow, yet later
on the night a mistake was found out in the scoring and the verdict was
turned in as a draw. Boxingladiators score the fight for Marquez with
three points advantage counting the point taken away.
And in the principal fight featuring Clarence ''bones'' Adams Vs Paulie
Ayala in another rematch of their heated battle which some say Ayala won
in controversial fashion with a 2nd round which saw Ayala badly hurt Adams
for a second and was awarded a 10-8 rd for it, that was the deciding factor
to call in the fight for Ayala. Yet...that crucial rd had been dominated
by the better punches from Adams, that round should have been really scored
for Adams, or at worst an even rd. yet they went on to battle a magnificent
fight, and after the scores had been rendered Ayala once more walked away
with the win. Ayala makes this several fights which have gone his way
via controversial decisions, with two wins over 4 time champion Johnny
Tapia as the ones best known by the general public. Ayala the consummate
professional will try and show that the first fight was no fluke with
his smooth style and and aggressive southpaw stance, while the more experienced
Adams has the hunger to show that he thinks he really won the first bout.
All brought to you by Top Rank and the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas.
www.boxingladiators.com will be there to cover the event and bring you a full report and action photos.
Catch all the action on February 23 rd at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Events Center or watch it on HBO. check for local times in your area.