By Eric Thomas: 38-year-old former two division world champion Rafael Marquez (41-9, 37 KO’s) suffered a heavy price in getting stopped in the 9th round by 30-year-old super bantamweight Efrain Esquivias (17-2-1, 10 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California, USA.
Marquez reportedly suffered a fractured right orbital bone, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Marquez was knocked down by a right hand from Esquivias in the 9th. After Marquez got back up, he staggered to his corner and the fight was halted.
Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez told ESPN “He [Marquez] suffered a right eye orbital fracture. [He was] kept overnight as a precaution.”
It’s unclear at this time whether Marquez will need surgery to repair the problem.
It was a sad ending for Marquez, because had been in his prime he would have made easy work of Esquivias, who isn’t one of the major players in the super bantamweight division. The fact that Marquez couldn’t even beat a guy as beatable as Esquivias suggests that it’s all over for him. Esquivias would be blown out by the top fighters at 122, but Marquez struggled with him all night long.
Marquez gave Esquivias a lot of punishment, and even had him badly hurt at the end of the 7th round. But Esquivias lucked out that he was hurt at the end of the round and that saved him from getting stopped by Marquez.
Marquez came into the fight having lost 3 out of his last 5 fights with stoppage losses against Juan Manuel Lopez and Christian Mijares.
Marquez probably should have retired back in 2008 after his third fight with Israel Vazquez. Those three fights took a lot of out of both fighters, and neither were the same after that. Marquez continued to fight but he was a mere shadow of what he was before. It’s kind of sad that Marquez decided to continue fight, because his career was pretty much over 5 years ago in terms of him being an elite fighter.
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