By Jim Dower: I got to hand it to Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) for picking such a difficult fight after nearly two years away from boxing. Not many fighters would have taken an opponent nearly as dangerous as Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1. 37 KOs) after such a long layoff from the sport. However, I think Mayweather, 32, is going on belief that he hasn’t lost anything since stopping Ricky Hatton in the 10th round in December 2007.
Let’s hope for Mayweather’s sake that he’s correct about that, because if Mayweather comes in at 60 to 70% of what he was then, I’m not entirely sure that he’s going to be able to beat a talented fighter like Marquez. After all, many people felt that Marquez actually beat Manny Pacquiao in both of their fights, and that’s the fighter that the boxing world is currently holding up as the number #1 fighter in the sport.
I’ve seen both of the Marquez-Pacquiao fights, and I have to agree with the critics of the decision. Marquez appeared to win both of the bouts and should have been given the victory.
Mayweather was nothing special in his fight with Oscar De La Hoya two years ago in May 2005, losing many of the first six rounds of the bout and needing to come back in the 2nd half of the bout to pick up the narrow 12-round split decision win. It was a fight that was up for grabs going into the last two rounds, but De La Hoya, like always, ran out of gas in the late rounds and ended up losing the fight.
Had De La Hoya been able to fight hard for the remaining two rounds, he would have beaten Mayweather. In Mayweather’s fight with Ricky Hatton, Mayweather didn’t look all that good in the first six rounds, and was getting hit by Hatton on a fairly regular basis. However, the referee began to prevent Hatton from working in close on the inside, which seemed to turn the fight around for Mayweather as he was able to pot shot Hatton from the 6th to the 10th.
Again, this was another bout in which Mayweather looked very beatable and hardly the fighter that many people had previously been hyping as the best fighter in the sport.
Now fast forward two years with Mayweather now coming off a long layoff after making a ton of money in his fights with De La Hoya, Hatton and in a professional wrestling match. Mayweather has been idle all this time, spending money and enjoying his wealth without having to work hard in training like Marquez has had to do.
I suppose Mayweather is thinking that he’ll be in the same condition he was when he fought Hatton and De La Hoya, but I don’t think that’s possible anymore. Any time a fighter takes off that much time away from the ring, the body changes and the cardiovascular system takes a big hit.
Mayweather’s entire game is based on hand speed, ring movement and his ability to fight hard in the latter half of his fights. If those skills have been eroded through age and inactivity, the logical conclusion is that Mayweather won’t be the same fighter he was before he left two years ago.
For that kind of a layoff, Mayweather should realistically fight two or three tune-up bouts, but even then you can’t expect him to be the same fighter he was. I respect Mayweather for what he’s doing by taking the fight with Marquez, but I think he’s stupid for doing it.
This may well backfire on Mayweather with Marquez outworking him and scoring the more pin point shots in the 2nd half of the fight to get the win.
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