By Dave Lahr: Juan Manuel Marquez has a single-minded determination to avenge his questionable 12 round split decision defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao and is using his September 19th fight against Floyd Mayweather as a tool to get another shot, his 3rd, at fighting Pacquiao. It’s unfortunate that Marquez, 36, has to go through Mayweather to get another shot at Pacquiao, because Marquez’s fight last year with Pacquiao appeared to be a badly scored bout, much like the Juan Diaz fight against Paulie Malignaggi.
To many boxing experts that saw the fight, they thought that Marquez should have been given the decision by at least two rounds. However, Pacquiao ended up being awarded the decision. And instead of giving a rematch to Marquez to clear up the controversy, Pacquiao moved on to fights against David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton.
Marquez knows that this may be his best and only chance at forcing Pacquiao to fight him, because unless Marquez beats Mayweather on September 26th, Pacquiao will have an excuse not to fight Marquez. Manny certainly won’t opt to fight Marquez if he loses, because Pacquiao won’t want to face a fighter that was just beaten.
And by the time that Marquez picks up two or three wins to get beyond the defeat, Pacquiao could possibly be out of boxing as he runs into the sunset chasing what may end up being an impossible dream of being the president of the Philippines. To prevent that scenario from happening, Marquez is going to have to beat Mayweather and he’s going to have to do it in an impressive fashion as well.
Mayweather is – or was – boxing’s cash cow, the big money maker in the sport. And to beat a fighter that is a big bread winner for boxing like Mayweather, you have to beat him so badly that the judges can’t possibly give him the win for fear of being exposed and ridiculed. With so much attention being shed on this fight, as well as the questionable outcome of the Juan Diaz vs Malignaggi bout.
Paulie Malignaggi, you would think that the judges would want to be extra careful to get the fight scored correctly. But you’ve got a big star in Mayweather, and believe me, if this fight is even somewhat close, I can see it going to Mayweather. That’s why Marquez is going to have to try and knock Mayweather out or at least down a couple of times to ensure that he can win the fight.
Mayweather will be facing a fighter that will be more determined than he can likely ever imagine. If Mayweather isn’t as mentally focused as Marquez, then Floyd is going to get beat and beat bad, because really wants this fight. You could see it in the HBO Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 episode I last weekend. Marquez is in excellent shape, looking muscular, and determined to win.
Mayweather, who has been living the high life for the past two years, better hope that he has enough left of his talent or else he’s going to get hurt and beaten by Marquez. Mayweather is counting on his speed advantage to be a huge asset that gets him through this fight. However, if Marquez is able to neutralize Mayweather’s speed, then the fight will come down to whoever wants it more. Mayweather, at that point, will have to outwork Marquez or else he’ll end up losing the fight.
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