By Chris Williams: Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) will beat WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night in their pay-per-view bout on HBO from Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. He sees Marquez’s superior power and counter punching ability being too much for the weaker but much faster 30-year-old Bradley.
Rafael doesn’t think Bradley’s hand speed will be enough of a factor for him to beat Marquez in this fight.
Rafael said to ESPN “I wonder what it’s going to be like for Bradley…when he starts getting clipped by Marquez. If the fight turns out to be a slugging match, I think you have to like Martinez in that scenario because he’s a much bigger hitter.”
Any kind of exchanges in this fight has to favor Marquez because he’s a bigger puncher of the two. Bradley likes to think of himself as a fighter with good power, but he’s not powerful at all. His last opponent Ruslan Provodnikov wasn’t bothered by his punches at all during the course of the fight, and he ended up getting hurt by the Russian fighter a few times.
Marquez is a better puncher than Provodnikov in that he’s able to punch with power with both hands instead of just his right hand like Provodnikov, and he’s got a much better arsenal of punches compared to Provodnikov. Bradley didn’t have to worry about left hooks or uppercuts against the Russian fighter, but he will on Saturday against Marquez.
Rafael sees Marquez beating Bradley by a decision, and he feels that he’ll get the better of him in every area. If Bradley chooses to box him, then Rafael believes that Marquez will get the better of him in this area too.
Bradley will obviously come into the fight trying to box Marquez initially to avoid getting hit with something big, but it’s very likely that he’ll be forced to abandon this strategy once Marquez starts cutting off the ring on him and lighting him up with big punches. Bradley has an ego, and he won’t like to hear the crowd cheering for Marquez each time he lands a big shot.
This is why Bradley will likely lower his head and come forward throwing shots the way he normally does. Don’t be surprised if Marquez ends up getting cut from some head-butts along the way, but hopefully that doesn’t cause the fight to be stopped early.
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