The Mayweather-Marquez Undercard Not that Great
August 19th, 2009
By Chris Williams: While some boxing fans are excited about the undercard of the September 19th fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, I’m not one of them or close to being one of them. I see nothing but a bunch of faded stars and huge mismatches on the card and it doesn’t make me want to lay out the bread to purchase the fight on PPV.
Without even thinking hard, I can already see the winners of each of these fights, and I don’t expect any of them to be close fights. Judah, John and Escobedo will all win in one-sided fights. I don’t see any of those fights as being even slightly interesting to watch.
Judah, 31, may have had some hard times in the past three years losing to Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Joshua Clotty, but he clearly has enough left in the tank to beat Diaz, a B level fighter at best. Diaz, 33, has been fighting for 13 years, but has hardly any quality wins on his resume.
Diaz has lost against the best fighters he’s faced, being stopped by Shane Mosley, Antonio Marquez and Hector Quiroz. Recently, Diaz beat Javier Castro by a less than impressive 10-round decision in March. I had Castro winning the fight by at least three rounds.
Diaz’s work rate is low, his hand speed slow and his power not as good as his record would indicate. Judah should be able to win this fight without too many problems. Judah has become a gate keeper in the welterweight division. Supposedly, he’s fighting at light welterweight now, a move that Judah should have made three years ago when he started taking losses. Prediction: Judah by lopsided 12-round decision.
The Chris John vs. Rocky Juarez bout seems altogether unnecessary in my eyes, because appeared to easily beat Juarez in their February bout in Houston, Texas. The judges, however, scored it as a 12-round draw, giving the hometown fighter Juarez a huge gift by doing so. I had Juarez winning only round in the fight, the 12th, and losing the 11 previous rounds.
If the rematch is going to be anything like the first fight, this is going to be a boring bout to watch. John isn’t the most exciting fighter to watch in the first place because of his counter punching skills, but he totally dominated Juarez last time around. There was no suspense in the fight other than wondering how badly Juarez’s face would be cut up by John. Prediction: John by one-sided 12-round decision.
Escobedo-Katsidis is probably the closest thing to being a worthwhile fight to watch, but I don’t think it will be. If this fight had occurred before Katsidis’ losses to Juan Diaz and Joel Casamayor, then I think it would be an entertaining fight. But Katsidis has been looking really timid and gun shy since being stopped by Casamayor in the 10th round in March 2008.
Katsidis used to have a people pleasing style of fighting, kind of like a poor man’s version of Arturo Gatti. However, Katsidis hasn’t looked like that since the Casamayor fight and is now much more careful in mixing it up with his opponents compared to before. Katsidis doesn’t exactly have the greatest of boxing skills, and if he doesn’t slug it out with his opponents, his chances of winning go down dramatically.
I’m not a big fan of Escobedo by a long shot, but I think he’s more than good enough to dominate Katsidis. Right now, Escobedo is ranked high in the lightweight division at number #3 in the WBC and #4 in the WBO, but I see Escobedo more as bottom 10 fighter, if that. Escobedo’s mostly a slugger, but without the power that sluggers typically have.
Escobedo’s defense is poor and his face tends to get badly bruised and marked up in his fights. However, unless Katsidis comes out looking like his old self prior to his losses to Diaz and Casamayor, I see Escobedo stopping Katsidis. Prediction: Escobedo by 8th round TKO.
Tags: Diaz vs. Judah, Diaz-Judah, Escobedo vs. Katsidis, Escobedo-Katsidis, John vs. Juarez, John-Juarez, Mayweather vs. Marquez ,Chris John, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Juan Manuel Marquez, Michael Katsidis, Rocky Juarez, Vicente Escobedo, Zab Judah26 Responses to “The Mayweather-Marquez Undercard Not that Great”
Leave a Reply
please use above banner to link back to us!
wow! some of dese ppl dont kno shyt about boxing…juarez vs john is goin to b a good fite…marquez vs mayweather will b great if mayweather decides to fite
Judah is a bum who loses fights he should clearly win and I’m not sure the other 2 fight will be any good either. I’d rather see up and coming fighters on an undercard! “Money Mayweather “…. He didn’t start getting paid until he fought DeLaHoya and Hatton and that’s b/c they were big draws not him. People want to see at least a threat of a KO and for so many fights Mayweather doesn’t offer that!!! He’s a great fighter but not a big draw b/c to many he’s a boring fighter!
Hahaha.. i agree, if he doesn’t interest why he should waste his time to write.. unless he is moron.
this chris is one of pacqio lunatic fan, like all philipinos they will discredit mayweather. Pls boxingnes fired this author, how can you let hater wrote in ur website? if you dont interest do not write it, dont waste ur time moron. just write something that you interest to, u pacqy philipinos!
if boxing is running game, im pretty sure floyd will beat Usain Bolt..
this writer is 100% right im with you.i love reading your article keep on writing.
With marquez-mayweather, I can see that mayweather will play it SAFE as always evident in his previous fights. He will use the ring and run. Jab from time to time until he sees an opening. But if marquez hold on to his defense and counter-punching, he may end up chasing mayweather until the end of 12 rounds. Marquez must steal a defining round for him to win a unanimous decision against the runningman mayweather, otherwise it will go to mayweather.
the pacman-cotto fight will sell even without an undercard.
Floyd has gotten way over his head. He thinks he’s the biggest seller while it is whom he fight that makes up the fight.
Big PPV comes during Mayweather fight because fans believe that his opponent can defeat him and they want to see it with their own eyes.
This marquez-mayweather fight is not selling like hotcakes because many doubt that marquez would beat mayweather.
I do believe though that marquez has a chance but I hate him to win because this will definitely lessen the hype for pacquaio-mayweather fight.
I’m a pacquiao fan and I am also one of those who questioned the result of pacquaio-marquez fight. I’d rather see manny win by KOs. Even a clear unanimous decision of sort is not satisfactory. There will always be a doubt that it is a sell-out. KOs are the best justification for a win.
With marquez-mayweather, I can see that mayweather will play it say as always evident in his previous fights. He will use the ring and run. Jab from time to time until he sees an opening. But if marquez hold on to his defense and counter-punching, he may end up chasing mayweather until the end of 12 rounds. Marquez must steal a defining round for him to win a unanimous decision against the runningman mayweather, otherwise it will go to mayweather.
no boxing fights are ever boring
man, this writter is obviously stupid or just plain out ignorant. lack of boxing knowledege. thats all i have to say, dont even have to explain why. too obvious for explanations.
The undercard bouts are not bad though. The indonesian champ is undeated and he defeated Marquez during their featherweight encounter.
I’m also expecting Zab Judah – Matthew Hatton but it doesnt materialize.
Mayweather Jr will appearin WWE RAW. He will help to promote the slow PPV sales of his bout. I’m waiting for promotional discounts of buy 1 take 1 ticket and free dinner. I’ve the feeling will offer further discounts if the ticket sales won’t improve.
This Author sounds like a complet mayweather hater and pacman lover, but isnt that everyone these days. I can’t wait for the day when Pretty Boy Floyd Knocks that bum out. You talk about floyd hand picking fighters to beat look at manny…….. Ricky Hattin and then you got oscar which took some balls but anyone can beat a weight drained and dehydrated fighter. The fight will be a great fight and the undercard will be a good one also. And this might even be the boxing match the puts boxing above that sport they call MMA. long live boxing.
the author is right……………..
I think the undercard is a good booster given a weak main event..they need these kind of undercard for sure…
Never under estimate Zab’s ability to lose a fight.
What I mean is that they have received many chances. It’s a decent undercard compared to what we have become accustomed to, but I wouldn’t mark my calendar for any of these bouts standing on their own.
Gavin
What do u mean by recycle? Floyd is putting the money up for the undercard…TR owns most of the best fighters and since this is a GB and Mayweather promotions fight the undercard almost has to be fighters under those compaines. Second of all anyone who is a draw and can headline their own event usually doesnt fall on an undercard in boxing because lets say they put Kelly Pavlik on this undercard…the card will sell better but if they seperate it n give him his own headline the 2 fights will make more seperately. All things considered this is a very descenet undercard they have put together
Everybody is busy questioning the author’s motives rather than addressing the points that he made. How many times can they recycle Zab, Juarez and Katsidis? I’m not paying 50 dollars for this card but I’m picky you might even say cheap.
once again someone on this site doing their part to make sure this fight doesnt get good ratings, lol wat is it with u guys i could swear this is a UFC site posing as a boxing site, why else would u be so skeptical all the time. John vs Juarez was gonna be its own main event, Katsidis n Escobedo are exciting fighters and evenly matched and Zab Judah has his own following n is a flashy and fun guy to watch
tbh i totally agree with u on the john result it was a total joke. Juarez got a complete gift in that fight and john will whoop him in the rematch.
infact this Chris willams guy should be fired!! for hiz lack of boxing knowledge!! any mayweather fight is automaticly big. with these added undercards makes ppv worth buying 49.99
This to me sounds like a str8 “mayweather hater” ! ! this article iz horrible! Sept 19th is Going to be Crazy!! It marks the date of a come back from 1 of boxing “all time Greats” and the undercards just made it that much better!!
Spot on author. John vs Juarez has about as much appeal as Urango vs Bailey.
IM WITH U BRO – I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE SAYING THIS IS A GREAT UNDER CARD ALL THESE FIGHTERS ARE NOT PAY PER VIEW CALIBER BUT THEN AGAIN WHEN IS ANY OF GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS A GREAT UNDERCARD? THEY ALWAYS HAVE A SH**** UNDERCARD BUT SINCE I CAN AFFORD TO BUY THIS I STILL WILL BUT I WILL MAKE PEOPLE PITCH IN FOR THIS FIGHT!
what the hell?? juarez and john have had a close fight before. and katsidis and escobedo is gna be a close one…how the hell can you justify being a boxing writer when bouts like this do not get you excited???
chris… always the sceptic