Jandaeng looks to bring title back to Thailand

RENO - Terdsak Jandaeng is already well known in his native Thailand, but he's looking to increase his fame worldwide when he faces Juan Manuel Marquez in the main event of tonight's "Double Trouble" boxing card at MontBleu Outdoor Sports Pavilion.

The 25-year-old Jandaeng, 24-1 with 15 knockouts, of Chunpan, Thailand, and the 32-year-old Marquez, 44-3-1 (33), of Mexico City, will meet for the vacant WBO Interim featherweight title.

The bout will be one of two fights on the six-round card to be televised on Showtime, beginning at 9 p.m. (delayed on the West Coast).

In the co-main event, IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez, 35-3 (31), of Mexico City, will make the seventh and final defense of his crown in a rematch against Silence Mabuza, 19-1 (15), of Johannesburg, South Africa. The bout is a rematch of the pair's Nov. 5 scrap in which Marquez scored a fourth-round technical knockout at Caesars Tahoe (now MontBleu).

Known as "Pit Bull," Jandaeng is an aggressive southpaw who will be looking to become the first world champion from the southern part of Thailand.

"I think I will win this fight because I have a lot of experience," Jandaeng said through an interpreter at a press conference Thursday in Reno. "I am a skilled boxer. I feel better than I ever have."

Jandaeng lost a 12-round decision to former WBO super bantamweight titlist Joan Guzman in August. The pair met in a WBO featherweight title eliminator.

"Marquez is very good," said Jandaeng, who had 130 amateur bouts and fought 18 times over 2004 and 2005. "He has good technique, but I think I can beat Marquez. I'm younger. I'm going to show everybody I can beat Marquez."

In a 12-round draw with southpaw Manny Pacquiao in 2003, Marquez, then the IBF and WBA featherweight champion, was caught off-guard early by the free-swinging Filipino and was knocked down three times in the first round before mounting a rally.

Asked if he thought his aggression and left-handed style could produce a similar result, Jandaeng was noncommittal.

"It's going to depend what happens inside the ring," Jandaeng said. "It's going to depend how he starts the fight. I don't know."

But Jandaeng, who like former light heavyweight champion Roy Jones likes cock fighting, said he has ample motivation to win the belt.

"Wherever I fight, lots of people from Thailand watch me," he said. "They hope to have a champion from the south (part of Thailand). No fighter from there has ever won a title. This fight is important for the Thai people, my country, my family and for my future."

In their first encounter, Rafael Marquez dropped Mabuza with a left hook in the first round and referee Norm Budden later stopped the fight because Mabuza was cut. Budden ruled that Marquez cut Mabunda with a punch before an unintentional head butt worsened that laceration and warranted a stoppage.

Marquez announced at the Reno press conference that this would be his final fight at 118 pounds and that he would move up and "fight anyone at 122 pounds."

In other bouts:

xx-Reno's Joey Gilbert, 11-1 (8), will give up 5 pounds to 173-pound Jason Aaker, 8-4 (5), of East North Forks, N.D., and meet him in an eight-round light heavyweight bout.

Gilbert, who weighed in at 168 pounds Friday, is a former three-time national champion for the University of Nevada, gained international fame on the NBC reality show "The Contender," and is the NABO middleweight champion.

The 30-year-old Gilbert claimed the regional belt with a three-round knockout of Jimmy Lange in February. The 25-year-old Aaker has lost three of his fights by knockout and is coming off a one-round stoppage at the hands of Marcus Jones in December.

xx-Jose Berenza, 27-8-2 (25), of Mexico, will meet Jorge Lacierva, 28-6-6 (19), of Mexico, in an eight-round junior featherweight bout.

xx-Antonio Izquierdo, 13-0-1 (12), Mexico via Cuba, will face Jonathan Nelson, 13-13 (13), of Oklahoma City, Okla., in an eight-round lightweight bout. The 27-year-old Izquierdo reportedly had 368 amateur bouts as a member of the Cuban national boxing team and trains in a gym owned by former two-time world welterweight champion Jose Napoles, who was also born in Cuba and fought out of Mexico.

Napoles defeated Curtis Cokes in 1969 to win his first title and regained it in 1971 following a loss to Billy Backus. He held the belt until 1975, when he finally relinquished it for good to John Stracey. He retired with a record of 78-7 (55).

Promoter Gary Shaw said Thursday that he had signed Izquierdo, who trains at Napoles' gym in Juarez, Mexico.

xx-Wladimir Zylov, 16-0 (2), of Russia, and James Waykon, 14-4 (8), of Mound View, Minn., will meet in an eight-round welterweight match.

Gates open at 4:00 p.m., with the first bout scheduled for 4:30.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

What: Six-fight boxing card, including IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez vs. Silence Mabuza and Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Terdsak Jandaeng for the vacant WBO Interim featherweight title.

Where: MontBleu Outdoor Sports Pavilion

When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday (doors open at 4)

Television: Showtime, 9 p.m. (delayed broadcast)

Ticket info: $200 (ringside), $125, $75 (box seats), $40 (bleachers). Available at MontBleu box office and concierge desk, by calling (800) 648-3353 or by logging on to [ http://www.ticketmaster.com/ ]www.ticketmaster.com or www.montbleuresort.com