Marquez faces Alvarado on Saturday to set up 5th fight with Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 05/12/2014 - Comments

marquez03By Dan Ambrose: Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) will have a lot on the line this Saturday night against Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Not only will the 40-year-old Marquez have a big payday fight against Manny Pacquiao on the line, but you can pretty much say that Marquez’s career will be on the line.

A loss to Alvarado will effectively signal an end to Marquez’s long 21-year pro career. Marquez can continue fighting, but he’ll be playing out his string and won’t have anywhere to go. I suppose we could still see Bob Arum of Top Rank draft Marquez out for a fifth fight against Pacquiao even with him coming off of a loss, but who will want to see that fight? Arum would be kidding himself to try and sell that fight to the boxing public, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that’s what ends up happening.

The Marquez-Alvarado fight is supposed to be one where the winner of the fight gets Pacquiao. That’s what many fans have been led to believe, but I still see Marquez being offered the fight against Pacquiao even if he loses. We saw Brandon Rios and Joshua Clottey get fights against Pacquiao with them coming off of losses, so I can definitely see Marquez getting a fight against him too if he’s agreeable to fighting him under those less than desirable circumstances.

Marquez is a living legend in the sport, and someone who arguably has beaten Pacquiao all four times that they’ve faced each other. But I think there’s a good chance that Marquez will lose the fight to the younger and stronger Alvarado on Saturday night. Alvarado is moving up in weight, and he’s not going to be weight drained like he was in his loss to Ruslan Provodnikov last October. A bigger and stronger Alvarado is going to be a problem for Marquez, because Alvarado is not only a puncher, but he moves well and he’s able to do a lot of the same things that Tim Bradley did to Marquez last year in beating him.

This fight is going to likely go seriously wrong for Marquez with Alvarado getting the better of him with his powerful combinations, and then getting away before Marquez can land his counter shots.



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