Juan Manuel Marquez TKO's Joel Casamayor in his lightweight debut

Juan Manuel Marquez moved up to lightweight in hopes of securing a rematch with reigning “pound for pound” kind Manny Pacquaio. Joel Casamayor had the bad fortune to get in his way and on Mexican Independence Day at that. Known for some time as the “uncrowned” lightweight champion, Casamayor buckled under several powerful rights by Marquez in the 11th en route to a TKO loss.

Boxing aficionados have no question about Marquez’s abilities, but in terms of popularity and mainstream recognition he’s been in the shadow of higher profile Mexican champions like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and, more recently, Antonio Margarito—not to mention his boss at Golden Boy Promotions, a “solid fighter” by the name of Oscar De La Hoya. This victory over a double tough opponent, combined with the fact that Casamayor had never before been stopped inside the distance, should serve to further enhance his reputation with his Mexican fanbase.

Until the thunderous 11th round, it had been a tactical battle with neither man scoring a decisive edge on the scorecards. At the time of the stoppage, two judges had the fight scored at 95-95 while a third had Marquez ahead 97-93. The big question now concerns Casamayor’s future in the sport at age 37 and after a busy career full of epic battles. How much, if anything, can he have left in the tank?

In victory, Marquez was not only gracious to his vanquished opponent but equivocal as to his future plans. He clearly emphasized that he’d moved up in weight to get a third fight with Pacquaio, but since that’ll have to wait until his “boss”, Mr. De La Hoya fights “PacMan” he concluded by saying that he’d fight whoever Golden Boy Promotions wants him to fight.

For the predominately Mexican crowd at the MGM Grand Gardens in Las Vegas, it was a great way to celebrate their country’s Independence Day. Marquez dedicated his fight to the Mexican fans with this statement:

"We were prepared and we did what we had to do to win. I wanted to fight for all my Mexican people, and I did it."