Giovanni Marquez is going back to school. Literally.

Marquez does not need to retake Math or English classes, but he is going back to the high school where he graduated from to main event a fight card Saturday night.

The unbeaten Marquez will face Bryan Springs at Summer Creek High School in his hometown of Houston, Texas. The six-round bout will headline a card promoted by Forris Washington and will stream live on the Next Fight Up Facebook page (9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT).

At Friday’s weigh-in, Marquez weighed in at 141.5 pounds. Springs weighed 143.

Marquez (4-0, 3 knockouts) is the son of two-time world junior middleweight titleholder and 1992 U.S. Olympian Raul Marquez, who currently provides color commentary for Showtime. Raul, who also resides in Houston, trains Giovanni.

The 22-year-old Marquez was an amateur standout himself, winning the 2021 National Golden Gloves championship and also won the Outstanding Fighter Award in his weight class. 

In his last bout on November 19, Marquez knocked out Luis Portalatin in the third round. He has stopped his last four opponents since making his pro debut, defeating Nelson Morales on a ShoBox telecast on March 11 of last year. 

For Saturday’s card, both Raul Marquez and Washington came up with the idea of promoting a fight card at Summer Creek High School with Giovanni fighting on the card. Raul Marquez anticipates his son putting forth a solid performance before a partisan crowd, which will include faculty and students, along with family and friends.

Marquez is a 2019 graduate of Summer Creek. 

“Giovanni is in great shape,” Raul Marquez told The Ring Thursday. “He was in training camp for three weeks in Las Vegas, sparring with the best of the best in Shakur Stevenson. Giovanni is very confident and looks to go 5-0 in front of his hometown crowd. 

“His opponent, Bryan Springs, is durable and went the distance in his last two fights against 9-0 and 13-0 prospects. Giovanni is going for the knockout.”

Springs (3-7-2, 1 KO), who resides in San Antonio, Texas, lost to Robert Kevin Garcia, who entered the fight with a 13-0-1 record, on December 31. In Springs’ last fight on February 18, the 32-year-old lost by unanimous decision to Samuel Castaneda (9-0-1). 

Springs did fight to a split-decision draw on June 17 against Omar Rosales, who entered the fight with a 9-1 record.

Also on the card, hard-hitting junior middleweight Andreas Katzourakis (8-0, 6 KOs), who is originally from Athens, Greece and now resides in Los Angeles, will square off against San Diego’s Rodrigo Gonzalez (5-1-2, 2 KOs) in an eight-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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