Put your money on Juan Manuel Marquez

By: Orgil B. Martin – Floyd Mayweather Jr. might have made the biggest mistake of his career when he hand picked Marquez to fight as a comeback opponent.

Being the same old, risk-free, intelligent, business-oriented fighter that he is, he sought to find the easiest fight for himself after he was done with his retirement. However, he might have taken the wrong pill to swallow by signing to fight Marquez..

Whatever legacy Floyd had created, it was swiftly overshadowed by the fearless warrior Manny Pacquiao when the Pacman utterly destroyed the two fighters that define Floyd’s legacy. These destructions prompted Floyd to come back and gain back some real estate in the boxing business.

Floyd needed a comeback opponent to step over to get to Manny Pacquiao, and thus chose the tough and intelligent J.M. Marquez, who nearly beat Pacquiao on two occasions, figuring that he would be too small to pose a threat to him.

But the cold truth is that size is the ONLY advantage Floyd has over Marquez. In every other field of battle, it appears that Marquez has the edge to win the war. The good news is that many analysts are overlooking this fact, and putting their trust on the rusty Floyd Mayweather. I will give you the following reasons to convince you that Marquez indeed is the fighter to be picked as the victor, so that you should not lose your hard earned money in friendly wagers.

1) SIZE

Yes, it is very true that Mayweather has a tremendous advantage in size. He has been fighting as a true welterweight for some time, and at this age the weight had fully embraced him. Marquez is clearly the midget here. Marquez gives up weight, height, and reach.

But what is the point of having all the advantages that size offers? It of course is to dominate your opponent with power. Mayweather has never been the imposing type of fighter, as he was bred to be a boxer and a counter-puncher. Why does he think size offers an advantage to the counter-puncher? Is he thinking about how he was able to nullify Ricky Hatton with his size?

But he should note that Marquez is not a hold-and-punch, rough-and-push type of fighter like Hatton, who was the perfect prey to the bigger and more skilled Mayweather. Size doesn’t matter against Marquez. He cannot hurt Marquez with his size, he cannot rough-up Marquez with his size, and he certainly cannot nullify Marquez with his size like he did Hatton because Marquez never seeks to hold. So size doesn’t matter here.

2) SKILLS

It is very true that Mayweather is one of the greatest defensive fighters possibly of all time. He is extremely hard to find, and awfully difficult to land punches on. But remember that he had trouble with Mexican styled boxers in the past. With his square-on stance and high work rate, Jose Luis Castillo nearly beat him on one occasion. Also, in the fight that could be defined as the ugliest of the decade, Mayweather vs. De La Hoya, Floyd found himself struggling to cope with the style. Even though Floyd won both of those fights, it was because he was able to pinpoint and pick his spots, not because he had the ring generalship.

In Marquez Floyd will find a highly skilled boxer, who is more technically sound than the two fighters that I’ve just mentioned. Marquez is a supremely skilled fighter when it comes to boxing in distance. He can close gaps to land his punches, and can retreat and pivot like a master matador if need be. He is also a skilled inside fighter when the situation requires him to be.

3) POWER

This is one sided. Marquez hurts his opponents on the regular, and his smaller stature will not halt his power against Mayweather

4) SPEED

This will be even.

Marquez will be relatively slow as he is forced to gain a tremendous amount of weight to face Floyd. However, one should consider the bigger Floyd’s regular work-rate, as he is not known to unleash torrents of punches, but rather only a few at a time. This will be in contrast to Marquez’s constant attempts to engage efficiently.

Even with the added weight, I conclude, Marquez will be able to match or exceed Floyd’s work-rate and speed.

5) HEART

This is also one sided.

Marquez made himself by challenging the best and the riskiest. He is not known to make safe, “money” decisions to avoid fighters. He showed his willingness to fight hometown fighters, completely ignoring the biased judges. Marquez believes in himself. He will never question his own heart and hesitate.

Remember that Marquez possibly is the fighter with the best recovery capacity. His wars with Pacquiao can be the witness to his heart. Floyd, on the other hand, had never been seriously hurt or had to force himself to recover for the next round after knockdowns.

6) INTANGIBLES

Whatever advantages Floyd have going into this fight, they will be neutralized by the aforementioned factors. Also let us remember that Floyd is rusty, coming off of a year long layoff, witnessed by his brittle ribs covered by the fancy body armor.

Also, it seems that the whole world is underestimating his dangerous opponent, laying the perfect siege for a huge upset. He doesn’t seem to realize that he is not fighting just another Hatton or a Baldomir. He is fighting the highest skilled Mexican warrior-fighter of the past ten years, arguably.