Making the pre-fight rounds
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With Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao about four hours away from their ring entry, the MGM Grand is buzzing with traffic from a late-arriving Vegas crowd that had the Strip effectively barren two days ago.
One of the first fight figures I ran into was Cameron Dunkin, the manager of La Puente’s world featherweight champion Steven Luevano, whose unlikely path to a world title we tracked in a story in October.
Dunkin showed me the freshly signed five-year contract Luevano had just signed with his current promoter, Top Rank, and negotiations are in progress to match him against Rocky Juarez early next year, Dunkin said.
Juarez knocked Luevano from the Olympic qualifying tournament in 2000, so the bout already has a selling point. Dunkin said although he was originally told the fight would take place in February, there’s a chance it’ll land on the undercard of the Jan. 24 welterweight title fight pitting champion Antonio Margarito against Pomona’s ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley at Staples Center.
Speaking of Staples, the Marquez brothers, Juan Manuel and Rafael (shown above during his victory over Joel Casamyor), expressed excitement about the idea that they could one day soon fight on the same card there. Rafael is waiting for Israel Vazquez’s right eye to heal from a third detached retina surgery, and that could result in a March fight -- when Juan Manuel will be ready to fight again.
Juan Manuel said HBO ‘didn’t accept’ a proposal for him to fight former featherweight champion Erik Morales, but he said he remains hopeful the bout could hapen. If not, Nate Campbell and Juan Diaz are possible opponents, he said.
Although the first three of his Vazquez fights have been on Showtime, Rafael Marquez celebrated the idea of staging his fourth Vazquez fight on the same card as his brother’s, who fights on HBO.
‘It’d be great to get us on the same show in L.A.,’ Rafael said. Vazquez agreed, speculating the fighting brothers could draw ‘20,000 easy.’
Who would be the main event? ‘We’re going to flip a coin,’ Rafael said.
Two of those who’ll most anticipate the De La Hoya-Pacquiao opening bell are HBO analyst Larry Merchant and ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael, who first discussed the match in a casual phone call, starting a series of conversations that led to the making of the so-called ‘Dream Match’ that pits the world’s most popular fighter against the best pound-for-pound fighter.
Just before the first bell, Rafael said, Merchant will turn around from his ringside seat to face Rafael in press row and the pair will salute each other.
A promotion official said Top Rank feels confident about reaching its goal of wooing 1.5 million pay-per-view customers. Early sales figures show the fight is selling in Los Angeles at the same rate as De La Hoya’s record bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., the official said Saturday.
-- Lance Pugmire
