By William Mackay: In looking at the training of the two fighters on HBO’s Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 series, it looks as if Juan Manuel Marquez will be the more powerful fighter of the two on September 19th. However, the one drawback of Marquez putting on so much muscle is that he looks downright slow in the training video and there’s questions whether Mayweather’s speed might be a huge problem for him in this fight.
We haven’t really seen how fast Mayweather is because he’s been mostly seen hitting heavy bags and working on the speed bag. Mayweather’s camp hasn’t let HBO film any of his sparring, but judging by how badly beaten up one of Mayweather’s sparring partners was in episode II of the Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 series, there’s a good chance that Floyd still has much of his speed still in tact.
This leaves the question how will Marquez handle Mayweather’s blinding flurries if Marquez has even less speed than he had before? I don’t have a good feeling about this fight. Marquez is already moving up in weight two divisions to take this fight, and will be facing not only the biggest opponent of his career in Mayweather, but very likely the fastest as well.
Pacquiao has great hand speed, no doubt about it, but Mayweather in my view is a little big faster than Pacquiao and much more accurate with his shots. Marquez has gotten off easy in his two fights with Pacquiao because Manny often had erratic accuracy. That won’t be the case with Mayweather, so Marquez is going to have to ensure that his defense if solid if he wants to avoid getting taken out like Ricky Hatton was in Mayweather’s last fight.
If, however, Marquez is able to walk through Mayweather’s fast combinations, we may find that Floyd will find himself in some uncharted territory. Mayweather has never been known as a tough fighter, mostly because he’s never been truly tested aside from his two fights against a small Jose Luis Castillo.
Marquez will have more to worry about in this fight because Marquez will likely be able to land more often with power shots than Mayweather’s last two opponents, Oscar De La Hoya and Hatton. That’s not that Marquez is faster than Hatton and De La Hoya, but rather because he’s so good as landing punches a split second after his opponents throw shots.
Mayweather may not like getting hit, but unless he fights in a safety first manner, he’s going to get hit a lot by Marquez and his chin will be tested. You never know with Mayweather, though. He may, after tasting some of Marquez’s power early on in the fight, decide to run like he did in his fight with Carlos Baldomir, and really stink up the joint.
If Mayweather elects to run and pot shot, he’ll win easily, but he won’t be well thought of by boxing fans. In this kind of economy, Mayweather really can’t afford to run from a fighter that is two divisions smaller than him in Marquez. That would be a really bad move on Mayweather’s part if he elects to do that.
This is why Mayweather should stand his ground and try to use his speed or what’s left of it to turn back Marquez’s slower power shots. I’m not sure if Mayweather can do it or not, because after all, he’s been out of boxing for two years and is now 32. That’s not young for a smaller fighter like Mayweather. By the same age, Mayweather’s father was already past his prime. This could be the case with Mayweather Jr. as well.
Comments are closed.