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MAYWEATHER-MARQUEZ IN “SEMI-FINAL” MATCHUP! By Jason Aniel PhilBoxing.com Thu, 17 Sep 2009  San Francisco, CA—All sports fans understand that there are very few things better in sports than a tournament or a playoff. Almost every major sport, with the exception of college football, has some form of tournament to decide who is the best. The sport of boxing has made similar strides to great success in the past. In 2001, Don King established a Final 4 of the middleweight division that featured 3 of the major belt holders (Bernard Hopkins, Keith Holmes, and William Joppy) and a bone fide star in Felix Trinidad. Hopkins emerged as the winner of the tournament and his career took off after. Starting October 17, Showtime will feature a round robin style tournament, which includes six of the top Super Middleweights in the world right now. Now, if you’re thinking what does this Saturday’s Pay-Per-View bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez have anything to do with tournaments, then you are correct. The hype machine behind this promotion would like the boxing fans to believe that the winner between Mayweather and Marquez is the true “Number 1” fighter in the world today. That this is indeed the Super Bowl championship fight of the year. The promoters titled the PPV “Number 1/Numero Uno” as evidence to that point. However, boxing fans, regardless of loyalty to a particular fighter, understands that the true World Series of boxing involves the winner of Mayweather vs. Marquez and the winner of the November 14 firepower showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. That match-up would potentially bring boxing back into the front page of the sports section. Whatever the match up would be, there would be multiple storylines that would make the fight a must see. Obviously, the crown jewel event would be a Mayweather-Pacquiao match. Should that happen, the boxing world may literally cease to spin because of the heavyweights star power both fighters currently have. But first things first, each fighter must win their “semi-final” match to potentially get to that all world mega match-up. It starts this Saturday, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. makes his return after a two-year hiatus against Juan Manuel Marquez. In Mayweather, you have all the glitz, glamour, and flash that a superstar brings to the game. An undefeated record and a unique skill set and talent in the ring backs up a lot of the hype that surrounds Mayweather outside the ring. In contrast, Marquez brings the precision and the often under appreciated accolades that has define his career. Most casual fans view Marquez as simply the guy who gave Manny Pacquiao two tough fights, failing to win any of them. It’s that perception that has driven Marquez throughout his career. In the late 90’s and into the early part of this decade, Marquez was often in the shadow of his fellow Mexican featherweights Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. Marquez was on the same level as Barrera and Morales in terms of skills in the ring. However, Marquez never had a baby face like Barrera nor was he a Tijuana “badass” like Morales. Marquez just won fights, quietly with little flare and an even smaller fan base. He was also a victim of some tough breaks in controversial decision losses early in his career. But now, at 36 years old and after 55 fights, Marquez will perform in front of biggest audience of his career. And of course, as typical of his entire career, he’ll enter the ring as the clear underdog. For Floyd Mayweather Jr., none of this success and attention comes as a big surprise to him. Coming out of the Olympics in 1996, Mayweather was always considered the best fighter out of the United States team. His promoter at the start of his career, Top Rank, had no problems putting Mayweather into a world title fight just two years into his career. And Mayweather has fought a number of tough fighters like Diego Corrales, Jesus Chavez, Jose Luis Castillo, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ricky Hatton. Although many focus on the fights Mayweather did not to take (most notably, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto), for the most part, Mayweather has fought good competition. What is a more legitimate criticism is the manner in which Mayweather has won his fights. Given the speed and skill Mayweather has, often times he ends fights with little luster and excitement. In his most recent fight, a Mayweather’s check left hook landed against Hatton ended a fight that was lackluster at best. And based on the styles of both fighters, who are natural counter-punchers, this fight doesn’t look like an action movie type of fights a majority of fans want to see—on paper at least. Breaking down the match-up, Marquez will be the “wildcard” of this fight. Mayweather will pretty much do what he has always done because he’s never failed before. In the past, Marquez has shown the willingness to come forward and fight on the lead foot. However, an aggressive Marquez has not brought about much success. In his second fight against Manny Pacquiao, Marquez lost the fight because he was on the attack when Pacquiao knocked him down in the 3rd round. Pacquiao even admitted that he was most effective when he countered the counter-puncher. Whereas, Marquez was most effective when he caught Pacquiao coming forward. Fighting more aggressively may make the fight more entertaining to watch but it could be lead to Marquez’s downfall. On the other hand, in Mayweather’s toughest fight, against Jose Luis Castillo, a consistent body attack slowed Mayweather down late in the fight. It’s no secret that Marquez will attack the body as much as possible. Marquez is a vicious body puncher. Marquez will be moving up two classes from Lightweight (135lbs) to Welterweight (147lbs) and that will make a difference in the fight. Marquez is even smaller than Pacquiao, who made a similar jump to fight Oscar De La Hoya in 2008. Mayweather is not moving down in weight and has fought at Welterweight for several years now. Although Mayweather has never used his size to win fights, it is unknown how well Marquez will handle the punches from a bigger man. It is well within Mayweather’s ability to win a unanimous decision over Marquez. When Marquez fought Chris John back in 2006, John played the role of counter puncher for all 12 rounds and won a decision (controversial as it was). Marquez is not as effective coming forward and reaching with punches and against Mayweather, he may not have a choice but to come forward. This has 12 rounds written all over it. Marquez has a shot to win the fight, if the body attack slows Mayweather down late in the fight. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jason Aniel.  |
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