According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world champions Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado will christen to return of boxing to the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California on May 17th.
like most about it is the historical significance,” said Top Rank’s Bob Arum. “They spent a lot of money refurbishing the Forum and it brings back memories of all the great fights that took place there, like when Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton there [in their 1973 rematch, which Arum promoted]. Marquez is a guy who earned his bones there. The Forum is where he established himself and this is going to be a great homecoming for him.
“I’ve been in this business for so long and, to me, the history is important. I’m really thrilled for my company to be re-opening the new Forum for boxing.”
“I think this fight has a lot of story lines,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said. “It’s at the Forum and it will be raucous, and we know Marquez’s history there. And, obviously, when the bell rings it’ll be a hellacious fight where neither guy will back up.”
“Mike is so excited. We have been training already for three weeks. Marquez has always been on our radar and he is the one we always wanted to fight,” said Henry Delgado, Alvarado’s manager. “This fight is our redemption to all of our fans. Mike knows how important this fight is. We plan to relocate our training to Los Angeles this weekend. What a fight with such a reward — to fight the winner of Pacquiao versus Bradley.
“This is really an incredible opportunity. We will be fully prepared to fight Marquez on May 17.”
Said Moretti, “I think you’ll see a more motivated and focused Mike Alvarado. He knows he has to perform well in this fight after the loss at home and it’s also a very dangerous fight for Marquez.”
“Marquez wants to win that title and that’s an incentive for taking this fight with Alvarado, because he knows he will get that opportunity if he wins,” Arum said. “So if it’s Pacquiao, he said he would fight him again, and if Bradley wins, well he wants that fight too. And if Mike wins, he certainly will be a good opponent to fight Bradley or Pacquiao, whoever wins.”
