It’s hard to imagine what is going through the mind of Juan Manuel Marquez at the moment. As the world saw on September 19th, the former champion from Mexico City was dominated in almost every aspect of the game by a come backing Floyd Mayweather Jr., ultimately surrendering a unanimous decision by scores of 120-107, 119-108, and 118-109. In the bout Mayweather’s size, speed, and skills were all too much for the gutsy veteran to cope with and the highs of Marquez’ evening were few and far between.
A grizzled 14 year veteran of the sport with a record that now reads 50-5-1 with 37 knockouts, Marquez is no stranger from bouncing back from defeat but this loss was unlike anything he has experienced as a pro. From the early moments to the bitter end of his clash with Mayweather, Marquez looked completely befuddled and almost hopeless as Floyd did as he pleased. While much of that has to be attributed to the great size disparity that Marquez was facing, it was undoubtedly a humbling experience and he now has to go back to the drawing board yet again.
In the wake of the Mayweather defeat, some people have seemed to forget that in mid-February Marquez delivered one of the finer performances of his career in brutally halting young Juan Diaz in the 9th round at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In that contest things were shaky early on as Diaz’ buzz saw attack made the crowd roar but Marquez, just as he has done in many fights prior, found a way to adapt and ultimately dissect Diaz. The standout performance alone should serve as solid reasoning for anyone who still believes Marquez should fight on.
Most likely ‘Dinamita’ will end up moving back down to the Lightweight limit, or at least to 140 pounds, one would hope. There are still a plethora of options left for the multi-division champion and despite clocking in at 36 years of age the gut feeling here is that Marquez still has more than just a little bit of fight left in him. Some of the aforementioned options are highlighted below…
Ricky Hatton
Hatton himself is coming off of a devastating loss to Manny Pacquiao in which he was leveled for the ten count by a wicked left hand from the Filipino sharpshooter. While their were signs of Hatton’s prime being in the rearview beforehand, the loss was still very shocking. Following the contest there was talk of Hatton possibly doing battle with Amir Khan but the WBA Jr. Welterweight champion now looks to be squaring off with unbeaten Dmitriy Salita on December 5th in the UK.
Seeing Hatton and Marquez battle inside the ropes would be an interesting sight to take in. The two fighters go about their attack in completely different manners as Hatton is rude, rugged, and aggressive while Marquez is much more polished and attacks with deadly efficiency. No matter where the bout takes place, pertaining to both location and weight class, this is surely a winnable fight for Marquez as he is simply the classier and more proven fighter between the two.
Michael Katsidis
Despite suffering a gut wrenching defeat against Mayweather, Marquez is still the WBA and WBO Lightweight champion of the world. The WBO mandatory is Australian slugger Katsidis, who himself is riding a three bout winning streak since suffering back to back losses to Joel Casamayor and Diaz. On the Mayweather-Marquez undercard Katsidis applied enough pressure to come away with a split decision win against Vincente Escobedo and in doing so found a way to remain relevant in the 135 pound landscape.
In his two losses all of Katsidis’ weaknesses seemed to be on display as he had trouble coping with Casamayor’s slickness and crafty veteran experience as well as having no answer for the patient aggressiveness of Diaz. However Katsidis has shown by his recent string of victories that his heart is still in the game and if he fights Marquez with the same tenacity that he has always shown he could present a few problems for the aging warrior .
Joan Guzman or Ali Funeka
One of the better fights to close out the year is the November 28th encounter between Joan Guzman and Ali ‘Rush Hour’ Funeka. Taking place at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec, Canada underneath the Lucian Bute-Librado Andrade rematch, the Dominican stylist and South African brute are sure to make for an interesting pairing. Whoever emerges victorious would come away with the IBF Lightweight strap as well as having all the more reason to lock horns with Marquez.
Guzman’s best assets are his speed and elusiveness. He was scathed for his part in derailing a scheduled bout with Nate Campbell over a year ago but a showdown with Funeka is his chance to get some redemption. Funeka himself is coming off of majority decision loss to Campbell on Valentine’s Night in which he still showed much spirit and skill. A blowout victory of Guzman would get his career back on track as well as making him a likely candidate for an evening with Marquez.
Edwin Valero
One fighter worth note who would certainly bring much intensity and aggression into a bout with Marquez is undefeated WBC Lightweight titlist Edwin Valero. Sporting a record with 25-0, all by way of knockout, Valero starting receiving heavy praise from then MaxBoxing correspondent Doug Fisher in the early to mid 2000’s but his career hasn’t been what many hoped for a fusillade of reasons.
Valero’s 2004 ban from fighting inside of the United States has been well documented over the years but the Venezuelan found a way to work around it, fighting on and eventually capturing the WBA Jr. Lightweight crown on foreign soil against dangerous champion Vincente Mosquera. He later was cleared to fight in Texas and recently became the WBC Lightweight king with a 2nd round battering of Antonio Pitalua.
Lately there has been much drama surrounding Valero, as fellow Examiner Michael Marley touched on earlier this week, but if he were to ever clear the hurdles towards making a fight with Marquez a reality it would surely be worth taking in.
Chris Robinson is a Freelance writer based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He tries to bring readers a different perspective on his articles by staying away from personal opinions and agendas and instead focusing on interacting with various people form the boxing world. If you liked the article feel free to add Chris as a favorite Examiner, subscribe to his mailing list, or reach him personally at [email protected] and www.FaceBook.com/CRHarmony
