By Dan Ambrose: HBO’s Max Kellerman is giving Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) a decent chance of pulling off an upset on Saturday night in his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Kellerman thinks that Alvarado’s size and youth could be a factor in him beating the 40-year-old Marquez.
Kellerman acknowledges that Alvarado was stopped in his last fight by slugger Ruslan Provodnikov last October, but he sees Provodnikov as being a much different fighter than Marquez. The things that Provodnikov was able to do to Alvarado are things that Marquez will have problems trying to duplicate because he’s a much different fighter.
“It’s an intriguing match-up because of Alvarado’s size and youth, otherwise Marquez would be a substantial favorite,” Kellerman said to ESPN. “Most feel that Marquez will win anyway. Class tells over time. He’s a higher caliber fighter. But one day he will get old, so why not against a big, strong, athletic, all-action fighter like Alvarado?”
Kellerman has a good point here. Marquez is getting old, and he could grow older overnight and look terrible on Saturday night against Alvarado. You can make a strong argument that Marquez already showed signs that he’s getting old in his last fight against former WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley last year. Marquez lost that fight by a 12 round split decision, and he looked bad. Bradley used movement to beat Marquez fairly easily. In the times that Bradley stopped to trade, he got the better of Marquez almost every time in the entire fight. In the 12th.
Bradley almost knocked Marquez down with a flurry of shots that caused him to lose his footing. Alvarado is a much bigger and stronger fighter than Bradley, and he can move just as well as he can. Alvarado has the wheels, youth and power to give Marquez the same kind of problems that he gave Brandon Rios in beating him last year.
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