Bradley decisions Marquez, but was it the right call?- Before the fight began, in my prediction piece, I predicted that Bradley would beat Marquez by split decision. I got a lot of crap for it, and truth be told, it was very much expected. I felt that father time would show face for Marquez come fight night, and it really showed up in a major way. Marquez looked slightly slower, too passive, and his actions showed my eyes a lot of doubt. Dinamita found himself having to try to force exchanges, which is completely out of his boxing character. Bradley to me just seemed to be more in control of the fight for most of the rounds. He would stick Marquez with shots down the middle and would then dip low enough to force Marquez to hunt from a angle that was only open for a split second. Marquez should have timed him with a left upper cut, but the thought of getting countered mixed with the thought of missing entirely seemed to weigh heavy on his mind. And meanwhile, Nacho Berristain was selling tacos to Marquez in the corner during breaks. Telling his fighter that he was winning the fight. Now call me whatever you like, but to me, a trainer should never tell his fighter that he is winning. I mean why give your fighter a chance to ease off of the gas pedal? A teacher as old school as Nacho is, should already know this. The fact that your fighter is asking you if he is winning or not, is reason alone to tell him to box smart and continue grinding to erase that question. Now to those that will say that Marquez never asked Nacho if he was winning the fight or not, well the fact that his trainer felt the need to tell his fighter that he is winning without being asked, tells me that the trainer saw doubt and panic in his fighters eyes. Feeling as if he needed to get his fighter to mentally calm down before desperation sets in. Take from that what you may, but that is what I believe. Alvarado/Provodnikov prediction for 10/19 this Saturday night on HBO- When Danny Garcia took on Matthysse, Matthysse was favored to win so I studied Matthysse. Marquez was the favorite over Bradley so I stayed watching Marquez fight videos, especially his fight against Polo. But Polo?s stance and boxing style is nothing like Bradley?s so why did I choose to study that fight over his fight against Juan Diaz? Easy, because I knew deep down that Joel Diaz would not allow for Bradley to make the same mistakes that the baby bull made against Dinamita. So for this fight, I have already been studying Mile High Mike Alvarado. Provodnikov is at his best when he is allowed to place his lead foot in between his opponents feet, it is there that his short punches get the most mustard on them and the damage begins. Alvarado will feel a short right handed bomb followed by a sledgehammer of a left come fight night that will rattle his world. The Alvarado that faced Rios in their rematch will then enter the fight and will look to pick his spots. But something that I saw Alvarado do in the Herrera fight sticks out to me. And glimpses of that Herrera fight mixed in with his last fight against Rios is what you can expect to see come fight night. Ruslan will have his moments, but I feel that the only way for him to secure victory will be only by knockout or by scoring multiple knockdowns. It is very possible, but I just do not see it happening. I see Alvarado stopping Provodnikov inside 10 rounds, but realistically, Alvarado by Majority Decision sounds about right. Photo Credit : Chris Farina ? Top Rank
