By Chris Williams: By beating #2 ranked WBC light welterweight contender Erik Morales (51-6, 35 KO’s) in April, Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) will find himself immediately ranked high in the light welterweight division and a major player for big money fights against the winner of the eventual Timothy Bradley – Devon Alexander and Amir Kha fights. Marquez may not even need a fight against Manny Pacquiao to get a huge money fight. All Marquez has to do is whip the shot Morales, and get a big push by the WBC after beating Morales.

It’s quite odd that the World Boxing Council has the 34-year-old Morales ranked at #2 in the light welterweight division, because Morales has only fought three times since making a comeback after three years out of boxing, and Morales has looked awful in winning those three fights. But never the less, Marquez will still be able to take advantage of the situation by likely getting pushed up into the top five in the light welterweight division.

That’s where Marquez needs to be right now because there’s no longer anyone worth fighting at lightweight. That division is completely cleared out of interesting opponents for Marquez and he’s just wasting his time there. At light welterweight, Marquez can pick and choose fighters like Bradley, Alexander, Khan, Victor Ortiz and Zab Judah. It also puts Marquez within range of welterweights like Pacquiao, Shane Mosley and Andre Berto. A fight against anyone of those fighters, especially Pacquiao and Mosley, would give Marquez a big payday. Marquez would be at a disadvantage in size against those guys, but as shot as Mosley is right now, I would favor Marquez to beat him. Berto is just badly flawed and is beatable if pressed hard.