SONAHR: May 18, 2014 – At 40, Juan Manuel ?JMM? Marquez is nearly a decade younger than the ageless light-heavyweight guru Bernard Hopkins. Even so, Marquez plays a similar role among the welterweights. Like Hopkins, Marquez is a boxing professor who continues to hand out painful lessons to his pupils in the unforgiving classroom of the squared circle.
On Saturday, JMM schooled former junior-welterweight title-holder Mike Alvarado, winning a wide unanimous decision by scores of 119-108 and 17-109 twice. Yet the win was not as comfortable as the margins on the judges? scorecards suggest. Marquez hit the canvas in the ninth round, after decking Alvarado in the previous frame.
Even though the fighters traded knockdowns, no one would argue that the judges robbed Alvarado. He was well and clearly outpointed, even though he gave Professor Marquez a few anxious moments.
The bout was billed as an eliminator for the WBO welterweight title, which is currently held by none other than Manny Pacquiao. The last time JMM saw Pacman, the Filipino was face-down on the canvas, courtesy of a devastating Marquez right hand. As the mandatory challenger for the title ? which Pacquiao regained last month with a revenge triumph over Timothy Bradley ? Marquez is in a position for a fifth meeting with a man who is more than capable of giving boxing lessons of his own.
Surely, Pacquiao would like nothing better than to erase the image of the humiliating defeat Marquez inflicted. Well ? almost nothing. There is also the elusive possibility of a superfight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. ? a matchup that fell through four years ago, but retains its allure in the wake of Pacquiao?s win over Bradley and Mayweather?s defeat of Argentine dangerman Marcos Maidana. However, Mayweather appears to be leaning toward giving Maidana an unnecessary rematch. But a Pacquiao bout would generate a lot more coin for Mayweather, whose nickname happens to be ?Money.?
Going back to Saturday?s bout, both Marquez and Alvarado were coming off losses ? Marquez by decision to Bradley, and Alvarado by stoppage to the hard-punching Ruslan Provodnikov. To his credit, Alvarado showed no signs of reticence from the beatdown Provodnikov laid on him. Alvarado did his best against Marquez. Trouble was, his best was not good enough.
It appears that Alvarado peaked with his clear-cut decision win in his second fight with Brandon Rios, who had stopped him in their first encounter. Back-to-back losses to Provodnikov and Marquez suggest that Alvarado?s time at the top of the 147 and 140-pound divisions has come to an end.
As for JMM, the door to his pugilistic classroom is open to anyone who is willing to step in.
