"In the ring, nobody's going to help you; it's all you and whoever is in front of you. It don't matter if it's a 4-round fight or a 6-round fight, you train like you're a champion. You don't want to lose because now in the pros, one loss means a lot in these times," stated former world champion and commentator Raul Marquez, who talked about his sons coming up in the sport of boxing. Check it out!
PC: Raul, thanks for your time, good luck to both of your sons, and I definitely look forward to having them on FightHype soon. Is there anything else you would like to add before I let you go?
RM: Everybody that reads FightHype, please support TMT and that's not The Money Team, that's The Marquez Team
PC: Your son, Arturo, recently picked up another win making him 7-0 as a pro now. Are you happy with what you have seen from him so far?
RM: Yeah! He's coming along right. We're trying to develop him. He's in that development stage because he's young. He's 20 years old. I'm glad that we are signed with Bob Arum and Top Rank. He's 7-0 now with 4 knockouts and he's learning and getting better. He fought in Houston on a Lou Savarese card and then he's going to fight June 30th in Dallas on a Top Rank card. He made his pro debut in Houston and he came back home for his 7th fight. He beat a tough kid from Arkansas that was 3-1. He knows you have to put the time in the gym and that's where you learn, especially when you're coming up in the professional ranks because you learn a lot in sparring. He's been sparring with Regis Prograis.
PC: He's from my hometown. I know exactly who he is. That's my man.
RM: Yes, he's from New Orleans and trains in Houston. He's a good guy, man. Arturo does well and he learns from sparring with him and it's a good workout. He needs that kind of sparring to get better.
PC: You get better in the gym and with experience in the ring and it sounds like you have him set up with good guys to train with and you are keeping him very active in the ring.
RM: Exactly! And that's the whole reason why we want him fighting every two months or so. It's very important because activity keeps you sharp. You keep them in the gym all of the time, keep them working, and keep them learning. That's why we wanted him on the card in Houston on the Lou Savarese card and then he'll come back June 30th on a Top Rank card in Dallas.
PC: I see the name Arturo and I assume he was named after the late great Arturo Gatti. Is that the case or no?
RM: Actually (laughing) he was named after my father. My father's name is Arturo and he trains him. My dad trains him with my brother, Aldo, and I manage him, but he was named after my dad.
PC: Was it only natural for your father to train him as opposed to you or is this just the way it worked out?
RM: That's the way it worked out. My dad has a boxing gym where he takes amateur fighters to compete. He trains my older son Arturo and my son Giovanni, who is 16 years old and he's good. He's a good amateur. You will hear about him one day. He's learned a lot and is getting better. My dad trained me in the professionals throughout most of my career and in the amateurs too. He made me an Olympian and a world champion. Obviously my dad knows what he's doing. And I travel with my job, so it makes it hard for me to really train my son. To be honest with you, I'm not a trainer. I don't have patience to be a trainer.
PC: We spoke about Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and the disappointment in his performance against Canelo Alvarez. You currently have two sons coming up in the game. I'm sure you're doing everything in your power to make sure they create their own identity and not live in the shadow of their dad, the former Olympian and world champion.
RM: Right, and it's hard. In the beginning, it's hard because a lot of people know them as Raul Marquez's sons. They want to check them out. He sells a lot of tickets here in Houston when he fights here. There is a lot of energy here in Houston when he fights. They seen a couple of his fights because just about every fight he's fought has been shown on Solo Boxeo. There have been highlights of him or they show his whole fights and people like him and what they see and they want to see if he has a future in this, but yeah, sooner or later, that's all gotta be separated from his old man. Hopefully in 10-12 fights from now, he will be able to create his own identity. Right now, he is learning and he knows that nothing is going to be given to you. He knows that he's gotta train hard; nothing is easy. He's gotta put the time in and I stress that to him. You gotta put the rounds in, you gotta put the miles in, you gotta put the sparring in and the dieting. Nothing is easy in life and definitely not easy in boxing. You don't cut any corners in this sport. If you didn't train the right way, it's going to show. And right now, just because he's fighting the right opponents, anything can happen in boxing. I don't care if you're fighting a guy that's 1-8 that's never been knocked out, if that guy catches you with the right shot or you run out of gas in a 6-round fight and you have a few rounds left and you may have hurt him early so you went in for the knockout and you didn't run right or spar right or diet right, it's over, man. Once you run out of gas in the ring, you're done, man. So I try to put that in both of my kid's head, Giovanni and Arturo, because it's a tough sport. In the ring, nobody's going to help you; it's all you and whoever is in front of you. It don't matter if it's a 4-round fight or a 6-round fight, you train like you're a champion. You don't want to lose because now in the pros, one loss means a lot in these times.
PC: Raul, thanks for your time, good luck to both of your sons, and I definitely look forward to having them on FightHype soon. Is there anything else you would like to add before I let you go?
RM: Everybody that reads FightHype, please support TMT and that's not The Money Team, that's The Marquez Team! I'm sure you will be hearing about the Marquez team down the line, man. I'm sure you will.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]