Marquez doesn’t want Cotto fight at 150lbs

By Boxing News - 06/18/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) and former four-division world champion Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) are negotiating on a catch-weight for a fight between them. Marquez does not wish to fight Cotto at a catch-weight of 150 pounds, because he sees that as a lot of weight for him. It seems that if the Cotto-Marquez fight is going to take place, it will need to happen at 147.

Marquez spent much of his career at featherweight, and didn’t move up to welterweight until he’d reached his 20th year as a pro. The highest weight that Marquez has weighed in for a fight during his career was 144 ½ pounds for his fight against Tim Bradley in October 2013.

“He [Cotto] was talking about a fight at 150 pounds, but that’s a lot of weight. We are analyzing and seeing what’s more appropriate. If not, then we’ll probably retire,” said Marquez to espndeportes.com. “It’s not an obsession [to fight Cotto]. We want to make one last fight to give a good show to the people, but if we cannot then we’ll see what’s the best decision.”

Marquez doesn’t rehydrate a great deal when he makes weight for his fights. He’s a lot like Manny Pacquiao in that respect. If Marquez fights Cotto at welterweight, it wouldn’t be surprising if Marquez comes into the fight less than 147lbs. Cotto will likely rehydrate into the low 160s, which means he would have close to a 20-pound weight advantage over Marquez.

That’s a lot of weight for Marquez to be giving away, especially with him not having fought since May 2014. Marquez has been out of the ring since his 12 round decision win over Mike Alvarez two years ago. Asking Marquez to come back after two years and take on a much heavier fighter in Cotto, it would put Marquez at a huge disadvantage.

Unless Marquez is willing to give up a lot of weight to the 35-year-old Cotto in order for the big payday he would be getting, he might want to go in another direction by electing to fight a light welterweight. It would be better for Marquez to fight a light welterweight, because he wouldn’t have to worry about fighting a guy that has rehydrated into the 160s.

Some welterweights put on a lot of weigh after they weigh in at 147. Marquez doesn’t need to be fighting an opponent that is over 160 by the time he steps foot inside the ring.

Cotto last fought in November of last year in losing to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez by a 12 round decision in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cotto gave it a good shot, but he was too light to defeat Canelo. The fight was won based on Canelo’s superior weight.

Cotto looked like he was in the low 160s, whereas Canelo looked to some to be in his mid-170s to low 180s. Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach estimated that Canelo rehydrated into the 180s. We’ll never know for sure what Canelo’s weight was for the fight because HBO didn’t reveal what the weight was during the Canelo-Cotto broadcast.

Marquez has been out of the ring for so long that it might not be a worthy fight for Cotto at this point. When you’re talking about putting together a fight with someone that has been out of the for over two years, the fan interest in a fight of that nature might not be worth it. Unfortunately, Cotto doesn’t have a lot of great options if he wants to get big money fights on HBO. He can wait for a rematch against Canelo, or he risk his neck fighting the top 154lb fighters like the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade and Erislandy Lara.

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In the case of Marquez, Cotto is looking to fight a small and old pumped up welterweight. The advantages would be completely on Cotto’s side unless Marquez can get him to melt down to 147. The advantages would still be with Cotto if he drained down to 147, because he’s still younger and has been more active than Marquez.

As far as the fan interest in a Cotto-Marquez fight, I don’t think it would do well on HBO pay-per-view. If that’s the only option they have to fight each other, then the fight will have to go ahead in the format, but I don’t think it will do high PPV numbers.