Freddie Norwood vs Juan Manuel Marquez

Freddie ‘Lil Hagler’ Norwood retained the World Boxing Association featherweight championship by a unanimous decision over Juan Manuel Marquez at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on September 11, 1999. Norwood weighed 126 pounds and brought an unbeaten record of 35 victories and one draw into his first defence of the title he had regained from Antonio Cermeno. Marquez, weighing 125 pounds, had won 29 consecutive contests since losing his professional debut by disqualification and was making his first challenge for a world championship. The bout was refereed by Joe Cortez and appeared on the programme headed by Floyd Mayweather Jr’s defence against Carlos Gerena.

The contest was difficult to score from the beginning. Norwood, a quick and awkward southpaw, seldom remained in one position long enough for Marquez to establish a steady attack. He changed direction, struck in short bursts and moved inside to smother the challenger’s replies. Marquez adopted his customary measured approach, studying the champion’s movements and attempting to counter rather than throwing punches without a clear opening. The first round was close enough to divide the judges, two favouring Norwood and one giving it to Marquez.

Norwood gained a substantial early advantage in the second round when he knocked Marquez down. The challenger recovered without panic, but the incident left him two points behind on each official card for the round. Marquez responded by taking the third on two scorecards, landing the straighter punches as Norwood moved within range. The action remained untidy because the champion’s speed and unusual angles repeatedly interrupted Marquez’s timing. Norwood did not always produce much clean work himself, but he was adept at preventing his opponent from doing so.

An accidental clash of heads in the fourth round opened a cut on Norwood. Cortez ruled the injury accidental, and the bout continued. Norwood remained effective despite the damage, winning the fourth on all three official cards. Marquez began to find the target more regularly in the fifth and sixth, using his jab to judge the distance before sending the right hand towards the southpaw champion’s head and body. Norwood continued to move, hold and counter in isolated bursts. The middle rounds were generally close, with the judges differing sharply over whether Norwood’s evasive work or Marquez’s forward pressure carried greater value.

The champion had one of his more successful spells in the seventh, taking the round on all three cards. Marquez nevertheless persisted with his advance and appeared increasingly comfortable with Norwood’s movement. During the eighth, Norwood’s glove touched the canvas following an exchange, but Cortez did not administer a count. Marquez continued to press and won the round on two cards. His greater accuracy was beginning to tell, although he remained vulnerable whenever he followed the champion without first setting his feet.

Marquez produced the principal incident of the later rounds in the ninth. A two-punch combination sent Norwood to the canvas, giving the challenger a knockdown to balance the one he had suffered in the second. Two judges scored the round 10-8 for Marquez, while the third returned a 10-9 score. Marquez also carried the tenth on two cards as he maintained his pressure and landed the cleaner straight punches. Norwood’s activity had declined, but his defence, clinching and sudden counters continued to make the challenger work for every opening.

The championship rounds brought another shift. Norwood took the 11th on two scorecards and the 12th on all three, according to the official totals. He did not dominate either round, but he finished with sufficient movement and short scoring attacks to persuade the judges that he had recovered control. Marquez continued to advance, though he could not reproduce the decisive combination that had dropped the champion in the ninth. Both men remained on their feet at the final bell, Norwood carrying the cut caused by the earlier collision.

Stanley Christodoulou scored the contest 115-111 for Norwood, Artur Ellensohn returned a wider margin of 117-112, and Duane Ford had the champion ahead by 114-112. The verdict was disputed at ringside. The recorded punch totals showed Marquez landing 89 blows to Norwood’s 73, despite throwing considerably more, and HBO’s unofficial scorer had Marquez winning 115-111. Other observers favoured Norwood by the same margin, reflecting the difficulty of judging a contest in which neither boxer established sustained command.

Norwood’s defensive movement, early knockdown and success in the final rounds secured the official decision, but Marquez had supplied much of the cleaner work and scored the more significant blow of the second half. The challenger’s restrained manner perhaps counted against him in several close rounds, while Norwood’s awkwardness made his limited bursts appear more effective than their number suggested. The result delayed Marquez’s progress towards a world championship, though it did not prevent him from later becoming one of the leading fighters of his generation. Norwood retained the title and improved his unbeaten record, but the disagreement surrounding the verdict remained attached to an otherwise close and technically demanding contest.

I’ve watched enough awkward southpaws to know Freddie Norwood was a horrible night’s work, but I still cannot give him this decision. He was unbeaten, quick and coming off another win over Antonio Cermeno, while Juan Manuel Marquez had rebuilt himself with 29 straight victories after that ridiculous disqualification on his professional debut.

Norwood dropped Marquez in the second and used sharp movement, sudden counters and plenty of smothering to break the challenger’s rhythm. That was clever work. But Marquez adjusted as good fighters do. He stopped reaching, set his feet before countering and began finding Norwood with the straighter, cleaner punches. Norwood’s glove touched down in the eighth without a count, then Marquez put him down properly in the ninth.

The official cards favoured Norwood unanimously, including one extraordinary 117-112, but I had Marquez winning. He landed more, applied the meaningful pressure and produced the better work through the second half. Norwood made rounds difficult to score, but he did not win enough of them. Marquez’s patience probably hurt him politically, but technically he solved the champion. Boxing made him wait three more years for another opportunity, which was punishment enough for being too good and not fashionable enough.