Nonito Donaire to Face Hernan Marquez
In The Co-Feature
Saturday, July 10, From Puerto Rico
Live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT
NEW YORK
(July 1, 2010) -
World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion
Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez
(28-0, 25 KOs) is set to defend his title against Filipino
Bernabe Concepcion
(30-2-1, 17 KOs) on July 10 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, live on
SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT
(delayed on the west coast).
Saturday's 12-round world title fight is promoted by
Top Rank Inc.
Lopez, the former WBO super-bantamweight champion,
knows Concepcion will be one of the fastest fighters he's ever
faced. "I've seen Bernabe Concepcion fight several times and I've
really studied his style. I know he's working with Manny Pacquiao;
they work with the same people. He's a very strong fighter. He's a
young fighter, a hungry fighter. He really wants to be a world
champion. He's a difficult opponent.
"
He's a very intelligent fighter, so we need to be
very intelligent, too. We need to fight him with a lot of pressure
and a lot of speed; we need to be very fast that night."
In what should prove to be an equally entertaining
co-feature bout, Nonito Donaire
(23-1, 15 KOs) will battle
Hernan Marquez (25-1, 18
KOs) for the interim WBA super flyweight championship. Donaire is
currently ranked in the top five on several publication's
pound-for-pound lists and is the former IBF world flyweight and IBO
world flyweight champion.
Lopez, who will be making the first defense of his
second world title, made the move up to featherweight in his last
fight, a January TKO win over
Steven Luevano at Madison Square Garden in New York, and
is currently on the longest layoff of his five-year pro career.
Luevano was the third world champion Lopez has fought and vanquished
in his last seven fights.
Luevano is the only common opponent between Lopez
and Concepcion with Concepcion losing to him by disqualification in
the seventh round in August, 2009.
On June 7, 2008, Lopez defeated
Daniel Ponce de Leon by
technical knockout to win his first title – the WBO super
bantamweight championship. He defended the title five times until
Jan. 23, 2010, vacating it after defeating Luevano for the
organization's featherweight championship.
Against Lopez, Concepcion will face the biggest
puncher he's ever encountered. The 22-year-old began his pro career
at 110 pounds before settling into the super-bantamweight division
in 2005. He later moved up to 126 pounds in 2009.
In his last fight in February of this year, he won a
10-round unanimous decision over
Mario Santiago in Las
Vegas. Before that, against Luevano, Concepcion blatantly belted the
defending WBO featherweight champ with an after-the-bell shot at the
end of the seventh round earning him the disqualification.
In preparation for his 12-round co-feature bout
against Marquez, Donaire will be looking to drop close to 10 pounds
to get down to the 115-pound limit. The "Filipino Flash" has been
sparring with heavier fighters like
Glenn Gonzales and
Luevano.
Donaire, 27, won the interim WBA super flyweight
title in August 2009, and has made one successful defense. He is
unbeaten in world title bouts. Marquez is just 21 and goes by the
nickname "Tyson" because as an amateur his father said he hit as
hard as Mike Tyson.
Gus Johnson
will call the
action with Al Bernstein
serving as expert analyst and
Jim Gray as the ringside reporter. The executive producer
is David Dinkins Jr.,
with Ray Smaltz
producing and Bob Dunphy
directing.
For information
on all SHOWTIME Sports telecasts, including exclusive
behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries from its events, please
visit the website at
http://www.sports.sho.com.
7-06-2010
