By Jason Kim: Trainer Freddie Roach has been quick to label the July 18th fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez as a “stinker,” namely because it involves two fighters that are known for their counter punching ability and reactive offensive styles. However, I think Roach is way off on this one and is flapping his gums more for wishful thinking rather than what is likely to take place in the ring on July 18th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather, 32, may have taken some criticism for the way that he fought against bigger fighters like Carlos Baldomir and Oscar De La Hoya, but before facing those two bigger fighters, Mayweather has often been an aggressive fighter, one that actively goes after his opponents seeking knockouts.
If you don’t believe me, look at Mayweather’s bouts with Arturo Gatti, Sharmba Mitchell, Zab Judah, DeMarcus Corley and Jose Luis Castillo. In each case, Mayweather was taking the fight to them, firing off blazing fast combinations and looking for a knockout. Just because Mayweather wasn’t able to knock them all out due to his moderate power level, he’s given a bum rap for being a dull counter puncher.
I think Roach isn’t seeing Mayweather’s entire career when he projects that the Marquez-Mayweather bout will be boring. If you were to look at his fights against Baldomir and De La Hoya, sure, you could say that the fights were dull due to Mayweather’s running and counter punching he did in the fights.
But that certainly wasn’t the case in Mayweather’s previous bouts in which he was letting the leather fly as he unloaded on his opponents. I actually think that Mayweather is a more exciting fighter than Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather looked graceful when he’s attacking with combinations and short punches, whereas Pacquiao often looks cruder, unpolished and less skilled with putting his punches together compared to Mayweather.
The same goes for Marquez. He may have focused on counter punching in his fights with Pacquiao, but he did that out of necessity, not because it was his style of fighting. Marquez knew that if he tried to trade shots with Pacquiao, he would be knocked out.
This is why Marquez waited for openings, picking his spots and making Pacquiao pay for his mistakes by taking him with big shots. Obviously, Marquez didn’t fight the most exciting bouts with Pacquiao, because Marquez has fewer options to win if he would have tried to trade with Pacquiao.
That would have been sheer suicide. However, if you look at Marquez’s fights with Juan Diaz recently, which ended in a 9th round TKO in February 2009, you’d have to conclude that Marquez fought aggressively and looked exciting to watch.
Marquez also fought well against Joel Casamayor, Marco Antonio Barrera and Rocky Juarez. In each one of those fights, Marquez went after his opponents and pushed them continuously throughout the fights. Sure, there were some brief moments in which Marquez wasn’t throwing punches, but for the most part, Marquez was letting his hands go.
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