By Dan Ambrose: In one of the sloppiest fights I’ve ever seen before among pros, Hernan Marquez (30-2, 23 KO’s) stopped Panamanian Luis Concepcion (22-2, 17 KO’s) to capture the WBA World flyweight crown last Saturday night at the Arena Roberto Duran, in Panama City, Panama.

Both Concepcion and Marquez were down in the opening round. Concepcion, 25, was knocked down in both the 3rd and the 10th rounds. Marquez was hurt in the opening round and in the 10th. The fight was stopped at the start of the 11th due to swelling and a cut on Concepcion. Marquez was hurt in the 2nd but recovered well to punish Concepcion with power shots. The fight was incredibly sloppy with little defense shown by either fighter.

Concepcion telegraphed every punch he threw in the fight and seemed incapable of throwing anything other than right hands all fight long. It was like watching a terrible amateur fighter trying to fight a professional. If Marquez had better skills, he would have destroyed Concepcion. However, he was too flawed to handle a fighter that was wide open for every shot. This is the same Marquez that was dominated and taken out by Nonito Donaire last year in an 8th round TKO loss in July. Marquez was beaten twice last year – once by Donaire and another time by Richie Mepranum. I can’t see Marquez holding onto the title for more than a fight or two because he’s pretty limited. As far Concepcion, the guy needs a ton of work on his game.

I’ve heard some people mention this fight as a possible fight of the year candidate. This was the worst fight of the year as far as I’m concerned. Neither of these guys showed any skills and looked like a couple of novices.