When this fight was first announced, Bradley?s war against Ruslan Provodnikov was still very fresh in my mind. So naturally my first instinct was to pick Marquez to finish off what Ruslan started. But now that some time has passed, I now am no longer quick to pull the trigger on my final decision. I feel that Marquez will walk in the ring feeling invincible, after all, his last fight was when he knocked his arch rival out cold to finally close the book on Pacquiao. And do I feel bad that Marquez did not want to entertain a fifth clash against Pacquiao, especially since Pacquiao was generous enough to have given Marquez a few opportunities? NO, and the reason why is because in their first 3 fights against one another, the fights could have gone either way. But in the fourth fight, Marquez took a shovel to the back and forth debate and ended it with a punctuating exclamation point. This is going to be a fight that will be exciting in spurts early, but by mid fight around the 6th round, both fighters? will and pride will begin to show face. Another thing that may show face is father time for Marquez. All those wars fought, the wear and tear on his body, all that and more can very well surface for Dinamita come fight night. Which is why I now see Bradley?s conditioning and his straight shots down the middle being the biggest keys for him winning this fight. Combination punching from every angle will be fired out by both fighters. Rough exchanges between these two warriors will be seen, so it is going to be a question of who can outlast who. If Bradley comes to Marquez, Marquez wins, if Marquez leads, Bradley will edge him out. Simple as that. I very much hope that Marquez beats Bradley and then retire on top, but something tells me that this Saturday night on October 12, Live on HBO Pay Per View, Bradley will take it in a tough to score split decision victory.
