What Kind of Statement does Mayweather Make if He Stops Marquez?

By William Mackay: If Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KO’s) is somehow able to do what no other fighter has done before to Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KO’s) by knocking him out on September 19th, Floyd would be making a huge statement to the boxing community.

In essence, the win would solidify Mayweather’s claim that he’s the number #1 fighter in all of boxing, because Marquez is considered to be one of the top fighters in the sport and he previously foot Manny Pacquiao to a virtual standstill in two fights. Right now, Pacquiao is pretty much considered to be the top fighter in boxing largely due to his knockout wins over Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya, two very popular fighters among boxing fans.

Mayweather, for his part, also defeated De La Hoya and Hatton, but Floyd struggled to defeat De La Hoya by a 12-round split decision in May 2007. And in the case of his fight against Ricky Hatton, it took longer for Mayweather to knock Hatton out, stopping him in the 10th round, compared to Pacquiao, who easily stopped Hatton in the 2nd round in May.

But, if Mayweather is able to knockout Marquez, even if he has to struggle to get the stoppage, it would very likely cement Mayweather’s self claim that he’s the number #1 fighter in boxing, at least for the short term until Mayweather and Pacquiao can get in the ring and finally prove who’s the number #1 fighter beyond the shadow of a doubt.

However, a knockout win over Marquez doesn’t guarantee that Mayweather will be seen as the top fighter in boxing by fans, mostly because boxing experts and fans alike will point out that Marquez had to come up in weight nine pounds to take the fight against Mayweather at a 144 pound catch weight.

There’s no question that Marquez will be at a huge disadvantage against Mayweather because of Juan’s limited size. Unlike Pacquiao, who is able to move up in weight and still find success due to his knockout power, Marquez is more of a boxer and doesn’t have big power or incredible speed to make him and extra edge against the bigger fighters.

Besides that, Marquez was fighting as a featherweight (126 pounds) only three years ago before moving up in weight to the super featherweight division and only last year did Marquez move up to the lightweight division (135 pounds), where he had to battle extra hard to defeat Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz, taking a lot of punishment in both of those fights.

As a featherweight and super featherweight, Marquez was dominant and didn’t get hit a lot because he was so much better than his opponents. However, in moving up in weight, Marquez, a small fighter, has taken a lot more shots than ever did before.

Now to top it off, Marquez will have to come in nine pounds heavier than he has ever fought before. That’s obviously going to be asking a lot of Marquez for him to do this and remain successful. Mayweather might see himself as the number #1 fighter if he can stop Marquez, the fact that he’s fighting someone who has essentially moved up close to 20 pounds and four weight classes in the past three years, seems to take some of the shine off of any potential knockout win for Mayweather.

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