Marquez sees Bradley as tougher to fight than Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 01/04/2012 - Comments

Image: Marquez sees Bradley as tougher to fight than PacquiaoBy Chris Williams: 38-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez still prefers to fight WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao next, but if he can’t get that fight then Marquez, who turns 39 in the summer, will go ahead and look for the next best thing and he feels that’s WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s).

Indeed, Marquez reportedly sees Bradley as being the tougher fight due to Bradley’s harder to fight style. Bradley is a lot like WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward with his fast right hand or jab followed by a quick inside lunge forward where Bradley then smothers his opponents on the inside.

It’s hard to beat Bradley because he’s short and very strong. Some guys see his lack of height and big power and falsely assume he’s not strong. But Bradley’s strength shows itself on the inside where he muscles his opponents and lands short punches to win rounds. He’s not like Pacquiao, who you can counter because of his wildness and lack of fundamentals.

Marquez has already said that if Pacquiao doesn’t fight him by the end of 2012 then he’ll forget about the Pacquiao fight. Marquez doesn’t want to be waited out until he’s too old before he’s given another rematch. We just saw Pacquiao beat a 40-year-old Shane Mosley by a lopsided 12 round decision. Mosley had been trying to get a fight with Pacquiao for over two years back when Mosley was still fighting at the top of his game. He didn’t get a fight with Pacquiao until after Mosley was beaten by a lopsided 12 round decision by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and was given a gift 12 round draw in his fight against Sergio Mora.

Marquez doesn’t want to wait forever for another Pacquiao fight, so he’s looking to take the Bradley bout to capture his World Boxing Organization light welterweight title if Pacquiao wants no part of him. I think Pacquiao doesn’t want the risk involved with another fight because Marquez really boxed effectively against the Filipino and the entire world pretty much saw Marquez as the winner of that fight, not Pacquiao.



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