Juan Manuel Marquez recorded an entertaining win over relative unknown Jimrex Jaca last Saturday. The reputation of Marquez took a hit when he lost a decision to Chris John last year. Now with back to back wins, he seems to have recovered much of his former luster. He is back into consideration as an opponent for superstars Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. Back in 2004, Marquez and Pacquiao fought to a draw in a compelling fight in which Juan Manuel was knocked down three times in the first round. There were heavy discussions about an immediate rematch between the two but a deal could not be reached.
Ignacio Beristain, Marquez? Manager/Trainer, has been labeled as the scapegoat for that disappointment because he priced his fighter out of the Pacquiao rematch. Instead, Juan Manuel took less than 10% of the purse that he was offered in the Pacquiao fight and opted to travel to Indonesia to fight Chris John. John went on to win with what some would consider a hometown decision, capturing the WBA Featherweight Championship. With that loss, Beristain?s decision to fight John instead of taking the Pacquiao rematch was officially one of the worst managerial moves in boxing history.
Now that Marquez is finally recovering from that mistake, he still has a chance to acquire his second crack at Pac Man. Manny has not slowed down any since his first fight with Marquez. He is at the top of his game, coming off two knockout wins over the great Erik Morales. A rematch with Marquez is just one of many options for Pacquiao as his next opponent. I would rather see him fight Marco Antonio Barrera first, and matches with Joan Guzman, Edwin Valero, or Jesus Chavez would be just as appealing as the rematch with Marquez. Still Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez II is one of the most appealing bouts that can be made right now. With Marquez signed to a contract with Golden Boy Promotions, the fate of his match with Manny lies in the resolve of the contract dispute for the right to promote Pacquiao between Golden Boy and Top Rank.
If Pacquiao ends up with Golden Boy, there is a great chance that he will fight both Marquez and Barrera (probably not on the same night though). If Pacquiao ends up with Top Rank, Marquez will be out of luck because Bob Arum wants nothing to do with Nacho Beristain and the Marquez brothers. If that happens there is a slight chance that Marquez could secure the fight with Barrera that has eluded him for half a decade. But more likely, Marquez will continue to fight mediocre contenders and mandatory challengers until he retires. That would be the wasted time of an extremely talented fighter; so as a boxing fan I am rooting for Pacquiao to sign with Golden Boy Promotions.
I Wonder How Much This PPV Will Cost?
On Cinco De Mayo next year, boxing?s biggest star, Oscar De La Hoya, has agreed to fight boxing?s Pound for Pound best, Floyd Mayweather, JR. This match represents the biggest fight that can possibly be made in boxing and you have to give credit to De La Hoya for continually coming through and making the fights that fans want to see. Oscar has been largely inactive since his disappointing defeat to Bernard Hopkins in 2004, fighting only once against Ricardo Mayorga. That has not stopped him from being a fan favorite, nor has it slowed his ability to make money. The Golden Boy is on a different level than everyone else, making 10 times the purses that the next most famous boxer takes in. He is 33 years old and has taken many breaks to rest, meaning that De La Hoya is at the tail end of his career but still has plenty left in the tank for a few more great performances.
Although De La Hoya is not done yet, he is not the fighter that he was a few years ago. Compare that to Mayweather who is in his prime and dominating the game the way De La Hoya never has. In most circumstances, if the Pound for Pound Champion fights a fading former champion who is riding on name recognition gained from prior years, the pound for pound king is looking for an easy win for big money. That is not necessarily the situation here for one big reason: size. Obviously Mayweather is trying to make money, and he would have a low risk, high reward situation by fighting De La Hoya if him and Oscar were in the same weight class.
That is not the case. Mayweather was fighting at super featherweight five years ago and has rapidly put on weight to fight at higher weight classes. In his last fight he fought at welterweight and was pretty obviously outweighed by a significant margin on fight night. Floyd never has to strain to make weight and could probably still make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds if he needed to. Mayweather?s critics have been talking about this size differential ever since he moved up to the 140 pound weight class, but so far, he has not had any troubles at all toying with the bigger guys.
Eventually, however, the weight will catch up to him if he continues to rise up in weight so often. Now could be the time when Mayweather takes on too much size when he goes against a smart veteran who is much bigger than him in De La Hoya.
Mayweather will likely be the betting favorite to overcome the size disparity and prevail. He has shown time and time again that his boxing skills are so superb that he is almost untouchable against an opponent within a reasonable weight class. De La Hoya does have tools that could create some difficulties. First, as I have already mentioned is his size. That is an advantage that others, like Carlos Baldomir, had so size and strength alone will not beat Mayweather. Also like Baldomir, De La Hoya has never been KO?d by a punch to the head so he has a world class chin and is at no risk of being stopped by a much smaller man in Mayweather. The second asset of De La Hoya is quick hand speed. Oscar has always had fast hands to go along with good fundamental boxing skills. That combination will create problems for just about any opponent. Zab Judah had moments of success against PBF by matching his speed. The third tool of Oscar that will help him against Mayweather is his famous left hook. That hook is fast, accurate, hard to see coming, and lands with devastating force. Floyd should be able to avoid that left hook if he is watching for it, but it is a weapon that could come in handy if the opportunity arises. Now I am not saying that De La Hoya will be able to defeat Mayweather because he has all of these attributes. All of these are simply reasons why De La Hoya vs. Mayweather will be competitive and interesting. There is substance to this fight, it is not just about cashing out on name recognition.
Floyd seems less interested in the fight and more interested about his planned retirement after this next match. I doubt that he will walk away after May 5th because there is still so much more for him to accomplish. De La Hoya is a good fight for the fans and will make truckloads of money, but there are still legions of critics who think that Mayweather has not fought the best that he possibly could have. If Floyd wanted to really establish his greatness he would clean out all of the divisions that he can still make weight in of all worthy contenders. That would include guys like Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Ricky Hatton, Jose Luis Castillo, Vivian Harris, Luis Collazo, Shane Mosley, and the list could go on.
There are plenty of quality matches to be made and plenty of deserving challengers. If he retired now, certainly he would make the hall of fame, but I doubt that he would even be considered the best boxer of his decade or generation; a title that could easily be his if he stuck around and handled some business. After he defeated Baldomir, Floyd cried like he had completed an impossible task that had firmly established him as the best fighter of all time regardless of what happens from then on.
That was not the case, but a casual observer would have thought that he had KO?d Mike Tyson in his prime with the way that he was acting. Mayweather was a 6 to 1 favorite going in against Baldomir so the result was predictable more than anything. Attaining the true welterweight lineage was a nice feat, but just another notch in the belt for Mayweather. The decision over Baldomir was not his greatest accomplishment or his most satisfying win. Floyd does have more to prove in this game, contrary to what he says. If he retires after the fight with De La Hoya, it will only leave fans with questions of what might have been.
