Only three days to go until saturday nights big fight between the undefeated "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez. Mayweather was the pound4pound king before he "retired" back in December 2007...and Marquez is the current number 2 pound4pound best fighter just under Manny Pacquiao. Am I excited about this fight? Yes....I look forward to watching most fights...I am looking forward to this one quite abit even though I am expecting to be unhappy with the result. I am a big fan of Marquez....but as tough as he is and as good as he is...I just don't think it will be enough to beat Mayweather. Mayweather is the bigger fighter and holds all the advantages. He's taller...he's heavier...he's stronger...he's faster...he's younger...my god what else could you ask for?? The only "X-Factor" in this fight is Mayweather's long layoff. It's the longest he has been out of the ring and will most definitely have a little rust...it's only natural. I would be so happy to see Marquez win this fight I just cannot see it happening. Still it was a smart decision for him to take the fight. For one thing he is making his biggest payday ever....and even if he loses....so what? He lost to the best fighter in the world...just like everyone else. No shame in that. But you can be sure of one thing....Marquez will be in there trying to make a fight of it and pressing the action. I don't see Marquez as a welterweight...if he loses the fight he really needs to go back down to lightweight and rule the division there. His last fight was a fantastic war with Juan Diaz....Diaz is not a power puncher at all and yet he seemed to stun Marquez a few times....which leads me to believe there is a good chance he gets TKO'd on saturday night by Floyd. Mayweather can easily outbox him to a decision but I can see Marquez getting caught with a counter coming in....much like Hatton did...and then Mayweather jumping all over him to finish the fight....probably in the later rounds. It will be sad to see.
Marquez really is a great warrior though...I am one of those that believes he won both the fights with Manny Pacquiao...so he should make this a very entertaining fight.
I was thinking that Mayweather would have had a super fight with Pacquiao first but he did the right thing in taking a smaller fighter in his first fight back....work off the ring rust...wait for Pacquiao to TKO Miguel Cotto in November...then make the mega fight with Mayweather/Pacquiao next spring.
I also wanted to mention that the one and only James Toney made another comeback last weekend with a second round TKO over Matthew Greer. Toney got down to 217!! Still fat but much better than the 230 from his fight before that. Look out Klitschko's ha ha ha! Actually my dream match is James Toney vs. Nicolai Valuev...5'10'' against 7'1''....great stuff! Who wouldn't want to see that??
On another note super middleweights Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward both won their fights this last weekend setting up their showdown in November in the Super Six Tournament. Both had soft opponents and both scored early TKO's as expected. In my opinion Arthur Abraham should win the tournament but the Kessler/Ward fight is one I am really looking forward to watching. I'll discuss more on the tournament as it gets closer.
I agree with all of your points totally. I just hope that any loss for Marquez does not tarnish his legacy in comparison to Mayweather's. If Marquez loses, I still see him as at least as good, and probably better in terms of all time greatness. He is just the much smaller and unfortunately now Likely shopworn fighter.
ReplyDeleteI guess from a business POV you can't argue with Mayweather's most convenient maneuvering for himself at the expense of the fans and well being of the sport of boxing.
Good to hear Toney is back in good shape.
You must be in LA-LA Land if you "Still" thought he won both fights against Pacquiao. Wishful thinking........................................
ReplyDelete