http://www.knockouts2sleep.com Juan Manuel Marquez vs Mike Alvarado highlights.Juan Manuel Marquez squares off against Mike Alvarado in a welterweight title-elimination bout on HBO, their fight is already a remarkable comeback story.
Not necessarily a comeback for them, mind you, but for the Forum.
The last fight card at that legendary venue in Inglewood took place in 2001, two years after the Lakers and Kings relocated to Staples Center. But now, more than a decade later, the Madison Square Garden Co. has completed a $35-million refurbishment of the Forum, in part to reestablish it as a home for world-class boxingAfter the spotlights had flickered and dimmed, the Forum was briefly used as a church. In the boxing world, however, it has always been regarded as hallowed ground.
"This became a temple for Hispanic fighters," said Top Rank's Bob Arum, co-promoter of the Marquez-Alvarado bout. "So many memorable fights took place here. This is where [Julio Cesar] Chavez beat Roger Mayweather. [Frankie] Duarte, Michael Carbajal, Chiquita Gonzalez, [Marco Antonio] Barrera, Marquez, they were all developed here."
The first fight Arum promoted at the Forum was the second bout between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton in 1973. Oscar De La Hoya made his pro debut at the Forum in 1992.
The Forum was also the site of the first main event of HBO's "Boxing After Dark" series, when Barrera stopped Kennedy McKinney in the 12th round — a 1996 fight widely considered to be among the best of that decade.
Jack Kent Cooke, who built the Forum in 1967, was a huge fight fan. He passed the baton to Jerry Buss, who bought the Lakers, the Kings and the Forum from Cooke in
