Will taking off weight hurt Marquez for the Diaz fight?

By Boxing News - 07/30/2010 - Comments

Image: Will taking off weight hurt Marquez for the Diaz fight?By Jim Dower: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) is coming off of a one-sided 12 round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year in September, in a fight where Marquez had to put on nine pounds on his lean 135 pound frame to fight Mayweather a 144 lb catch weight fight. Putting on the weight slowed Marquez down dramatically, causing him to be slower and much more hittable against the blazing fast Mayweather. Marquez has now taken off the fight and will be fighting former lightweight champion Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KO’s) at 135 lbs this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Speaking about the weight loss, Marquez says “We’ve done it very carefully, very healthy, very well. We have had the help of a nutritionist. I did, obviously, gain a few pounds to go up in weight. But we’re working, as always, very hard, working with the weight and working in the gym and we’ll be there for a very good fight, a strong fight, and at weight come July 31st.” Marquez, however, may find himself weaker and slower than he was before putting on the weight. Anytime you mess around with your body like that by putting on a good portion of muscle, it’s difficult on your body to have to strip it off and fight like before.

If this was simply a matter of Marquez having slapped on nine pounds of fat on his frame, it would be much easier to take the weight off and still pretty much fight as before. Another problem that Marquez has besides the weight is his advancing age. Marquez will be turning 37 in August, and while many boxing fans feel that Marquez is only getting better with age, you have to look at his lopsided loss to Mayweather and wonder whether or not Marquez is starting to show the effects of aging. He’s nearing 40, fights in the lower weight classes, and is facing a much younger and busier fighter in the 26-year-old Diaz.

Marquez was able to stop Diaz last year in a 9th round TKO in their fight in February. However, Diaz dominated the first half of the fight and gave Marquez a lot of problems before being worn down from the combination of hard punches and a cut that Diaz sustained over right eye, which made it hard for Diaz to see because of the blood was leaking in his eye. Marquez has done well in the past to rebound from losses to pick up wins, but Marquez was younger then and hadn’t been dominated the way he was by Mayweather. Marquez took a lot of punishment in the Mayweather fight, and that’s something that you have to worry about for a fighter at any age. Marquez might not be the same person he was a year ago when he was able to come back and wear Diaz down in the 2nd part of the fight to get the stoppage. If Diaz is able to start fast, it’s questionable whether Marquez will be able to hang with him.



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