Boxing: Christian Mijares knocks out Rafael Marquez in the ninth

In a battle of aging Mexican warriors, Christian Mijares (47-6-2, 22 KOs) proved to have more left in the gas tank as he knocked out Rafael Marquez (41-8-0, 37 KOs) in the ninth round. Mijares was connecting at will with his left hand and a tired and weary Marquez finally got stopped after a gallant stand in the ninth. As a result Mijares is now the WBC United States featherweight title. It was a classic match-up between a puncher and a boxer. Marquez was the more powerful puncher, but Mijares was the better technical fighter. The fight started out with Marquez trying his best to connect power punches early in the fight but Mijares dictated the tempo and kept Marquez at bay. This fight was sanctioned by the WBC so the scores were announced after the first four rounds. At that point, the three judges at ringside all scored it identically, 38-37, for Mijares. Marquez fought back in the middle rounds, moving forward even if he was getting peppered by jabs from Mijares. At the end of the eighth round the scores were 77-74 twice for Mijares and 76-75 Marquez. Mijares was on a brink of superstardom back in 2008 but this was derailed because of a knockout loss to Vic Darchinyan and two decision losses to Nehomar Cermeno. Mijares won all of his fights after those three losses but this is clearly the biggest win in his current streak. Marquez on the other is at the brink of retirement. After a grueling four fight series against nemesis Israel Vazquez, Marquez failed to get the big wins he needed to be a world champion again. He scored victories over Eric Aiken and Eduardo Becerril but he lost by stoppage to Juan Manuel Lopez and by decision to Toshiaki Nishioka. - AMD, GMA News