By Andreas Hale and Anthony Springer at ringside
Photos: Chris Cozzone
The fourth battle in the series between future Hall of Famers Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs) and Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 39 KOs) was the best on Saturday night before 16,000+ at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pacman got off to a good start, but Marquez dropped Pacquiao with a booming right hand in round three. Pacquiao came back to drop Marquez in the fifth and had him in trouble at the end of the round. Marquez’ face was a bloody mess as he was punished by Pacman in the sixth but the bout ended suddenly when Marquez caught Manny at the bell with a right hand that laid him out face down motionless! Time was 2:59. At the time of the knockout, Pacquiao was ahead by one point on all three cards.
In his first fight in 15 months, former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16 KOs) scored a twelve round unanimous decision over gutsy Michael Farenas (34-4-4, 26 KOs) to claim the vacant WBA interim super featherweight title. Gamboa put Farenas on the deck in rounds two and seven. But it wasn’t all one-way traffic as Farenas caught a wild-swinging Gamboa with a left hook in round nine and put him on the canvas. Scores were 117-109, 118-108, 117-108.
IBF lightweight champion Miguel “Titere” Vazquez (32-3, 13 KOs) outpointed previously unbeaten Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KOs) over twelve uneventful rounds. Vazquez easily outboxed Gesta from the outside to win 117-111, 119-109, 118-110.
In a bout for the vacant WBA interim featherweight belt, Javier Fortuna (21-0, 15 KOs) outpointed Patrick Hyland (27-1, 12 KOs) over twelve rounds. Scores were 118-110, 116-112, 115-113.
2012 USA Olympian Jose Ramirez (1-0) made his professional debut a victorious one with a savagely one-sided throttling of Corey Siegwarth (2-2) in a scheduled four round lightweight attraction. The most pro ready of the U.S. boxing team wasted no time ransacking Siegwarth with punches from the opening bell. A left hook to the body dropped Siegwarth early and perhaps he should have reconsidered getting up as Ramirez unloaded a hellacious series of blows until referee Vic Drakulich mercifully stopped the fight at 2:05.
Dodie Boy Penalosa improved to 10-0 with 10 knockouts as he obliterated Jesus Lule Raya in the second round of a scheduled 8 round featherweight bout. Penalosa slammed a counter right hook into Raya’s face that put him down and out with no count. Time of stoppage was 1:12.
In eight round featherweight action, Ernie Sanchez (14-3, 5 KOs) rebounded from a near finish in the second round to defeat Coy Evans (10-2-1, 2 KOs) to earn a unanimous decision win. The judges scored the bout 78-73, 78-73 and 78-74.
In a swing bout, Alexis Hernandez defeated Jazzma Hogue by TKO in the first round of their featherweight bout.
