by Jose Antonio Soriano, notifight.com
Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez admits that his country, Mexico, has been a bit quiet in terms of top level fights on the scene.
At the moment, the four Mexican fighters leading the charged include superstar Canelo Alvarez - and world champions Jaime Munguia, Miguel Berchelt and Gilberto Ramirez.
In the last few months, Juan Francisco Estrada suffered a loss, Canelo was suspended for six months for a failed drug test, Berchelt was been away from the United States market, and Ramirez is not fighting any contenders of note.
Marquez believes his country will bounce back in force - and he says it won't take very long before that happens.
"Everyone knows what happened to Canelo Alvarez, what happened to Estrada, who was robbed in his world title opportunity [with Sor Rungivisai], but it's all a matter of time [before Mexican boxing comes back]," Marquez said.
"With Canelo, the positive test did not allow him to fight Golovkin, but it seems that the fight will go down in September so we have to wait. Mexican boxing is quiet right now, but when it starts to take hold again... I think it will be important. I mean, it's only a matter of time [before that happens]."
Regarding Munguia, who last week demolished Sadam Ali in four rounds to capture the WBO junior middleweight title, Marquez was impressed.
Munguia took the fight on late notice. He dropped Ali four times before the contest was waved off in the fourth round.
"I had never seen him fight before. We had him on a program that we do every Friday [on ESPN Deportes], and I saw him fight in some videos, but now that I got a good look at him - he is a good fighter, I predict a good future for him. But yes, he must keep training and make sure that his feet are firmly planted on the ground," Marquez said.
2023-10-21 02:18:19
