Bradley vs. Marquez: Tim has his work cut out for him

By Boxing News - 06/19/2013 - Comments

bradley777By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) is going to have a really tough time trying to hold onto his World Boxing Organization 147 lb. title against counter puncher Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) in their fight on October 12th at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Bradley barely won his last fight against Ruslan Provodnikov last March in an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision. In Bradley’s fight before that, he defeated Manny Pacquiao by a 12 round split decision in June of last year in a fight that boxing fans felt that Pacquiao had done more than enough to get the ‘W.’

Bradley didn’t even look that great in his first fight with Top Rank in November 2011 in beating past his prime Joel Casamayor. If Bradley wants to beat Marquez he’s going to have to bring his game back to where it was back in 2009 when he beat Lamont Peterson by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.

That was more or less the best that Bradley has looked while in the pro game. It’s been downhill since then for him with him winning a fight against Devon Alexander that was filled with head-butts and clinching.

That version of Bradley would lose to Marquez, as would the Bradley that beat Casamayor, Pacquiao and Provodnikov.

Bradley has put on some weight since the Provodnikov, and he now looks least 15 pounds heavier with the weight being fat. If you look at the recent photos of Bradley, he’s looking really fleshy like he let himself go in the past three months. He’s going to have to lose all that weight if he wants to have any chance against Marquez, and I’m not convinced that he can do it.

Marquez is coming off a 6th round stoppage win over Manny Pacquiao from last December. Marquez could have fought Pacquiao again and gotten a huge payday but he’s not motivated to fight him after having beaten him so decisively.

Many Boxing fans think Marquez deserved to have won all four fights between him and Pacquiao and I tend to agree with that. There’s no point for Marquez to keep fighting Pacquiao because he’d be putting himself in a position where he might need a knockout to ensure that he gets the win, and needs that kind of pressure?



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