Tahoe card is set

Some things will change and some will remain the same when professional boxing returns to Northern Nevada for the first time since Nov. 5.

The venue will be the same, although the name has changed from Caesars Tahoe to Montbleu Resort Casino and Spa. Gary Shaw Productions will once again present the seven-bout card, but it will be held outdoors at the Montbleu Sports Pavilion.

Showtime will once again televise the action, but this time there will be two world titles at stake instead of one.

One of them will be a rematch between IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez, of Mexico City, and Silence Mabuza, of Johannesburg, South Africa. The 31-year-old Marquez, 35-3 with 31 knockouts, stopped Mabuza, 19-1 (15), on cuts in the fourth round of their first meeting at Caesars Tahoe Nov. 5.

The other 12-round championship bout will feature Rafael's brother, Juan Manuel Marquez, also of Mexico City, who will face Terdsak Jandaeng, of Bangkok, Thailand, in a battle for the WBO Interim featherweight belt.

The 32-year-old Marquez, 44-3-1 (33), is the former WBA-IBF featherweight champion, who never lost his belts in the ring, having had his titles vacated after a falling out with his then-promoter Top Rank.

The 25-year-old Jandaeng, 24-1 (15), is fighting in his most important bout. Jandaeng fought nine times in 2005, losing a 12-round decision to Joan Guzman in a WBO featherweight title eliminator.

Reno middleweight Joey Gilbert will be making his first Northern Nevada appearance since his six-round unanimous-decision victory over James North on that same Nov. 5 card.

The 30-year-old Gilbert, 11-1 (8), won three national titles for the University of Nevada, was a participant on the NBC reality series "The Contender," and is coming off a three-round knockout of former "Contender" opponent Jimmy Lange, Feb. 18, in Fairfax, Va., where Gilbert claimed the NABO middleweight belt.

Gilbert will face journeyman Carl Cockerham, 12-11-3 (4), of Las Vegas, in an eight-round super middleweight bout. The 32-year-old Cockerham is coming off a three-round no-contest with Jose Vasquez (Vasquez was cut from a head butt and could not continue) and has fought two other times since his Nov. 22, 2003 loss to Jose Luis Zertuche.

Cockerham, who has also faced super middleweight title challenger Mario Veit (KO by 4), dropped a pair of decisions to 2004 United States Olympian Andre Dirrell and Walid Smichet in 2005.

Chris Middendorf, matchmaker for Gary Shaw, said the two championship bouts would be televised by Showtime (delayed on the West Coast), but Gilbert's fight would not, even though it would be taped for an unspecified purpose. Middendorf also said Gilbert's fight would be held last and would be the de facto main event.

The evening will begin with two eight-round bouts, including a junior welterweight contest between Jose Antonio Izquierdo, 13-1 (12), Mexico via Cuba, and Derrick Moon, 11-11-1 (2), of Fort Worth, Texas.

The other will be a super bantamweight fight featuring Jose Angel Beranza, 27-8-2 (24), of Mexico City, and Jorge Lacierva, 28-6-6 (19), of Atlanta, Ga., via Santa Anita, Mexico.

Lacierva has made two other appearances in Northern Nevada. Lacierva successfully defended his IBA bantamweight belt against Sergio Perez at the Peppermill in 2000 and drew with Martin Honorio at the Reno Events Center on Oct. 1, 2005.

In other action Alejandro Perez, 5-0-1 (2), of Salinas, Calif., will meet Rafael Valenzuela, 8-1 (4), in a six-round super bantamweight bout, and Glenn "the Filipino Bomber" will face an opponent to be named in an eight-round junior bantamweight contest.

Donaire, 16-2-1 (9), took a 12-round decision over Cesar Lopez in his last fight and is the NABA-NABO flyweight titlist.

Rafael Marquez won the IBF crown from Tim Austin with an eight-round technical knockout in 2003 and is rated No. 1 in his division by The Ring magazine. He has not fought since defeating Mabuza.

Mabuza has fought once since then, scoring a 12-round decision over Ricardo Vargas in April.

Juan Manuel Marquez is coming off a defeat to WBA featherweight beltholder Chris John, to whom he dropped a close 12-round decision in Indonesia. The undefeated John was the WBA's Interim titlist when Marquez was stripped of his belt, which John subsequently inherited.

Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the first fight will begin at 4:30. Tickets are $200 for ringside seats, $125, $95 for box seats and $40 for bleacher seats. Tickets can be purchased at the Montbleu box office or concierge desk, by calling (800) 648-3353, or by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com or www.montbleuresort.com.