Juan Manuel Marquez is Overrated

By Boxing News - 01/12/2011 - Comments

By Jl Malapitan: I feel that WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) is given too much credit for being a very good fighter. Sure,he had 2 close fights with Manny Pacquiao, but who did Marquez beat to deserve such a good rating?

Marquez should have not struggled against the 37-year-old Joel Casamayor, and Marquez was a 5-1 betting top dog against Juan Diaz. But he lost most of the rounds until the KO. Marquez’s biggest victory was against Marco Antonio Barrera in March 2007, but he clearly lost that fight. Harold Lederman, the HBO ringside scorer, had the Barrera-Marquez fight scored 114-113 for Barrera. And that includes the 2 point deduction, which would have had the score 115-112 Marquez, because one round would have been 10-9 Barrera instead of 10-8 Marquez.

Since Marquez’s first bout with Pacquiao, he beat guys like Orlando Salido, Victor Polo, Terdsak Kokietgym, Jimrex Jaca, Rocky Juarez and Juan Diaz. He fought an old and washed up Casamayor and it was a draw on two judge’s card at 95-95 up to the point of the KO in the 11th round. Had they fought two years before that, Casamayor would have played with him. Marquez was given a gift win by the ref against Barrera.

The one dimensional Ricky Hatton gave Floyd Mayweather problems for the first 7 rounds of their fight, but Marquez was basically shut out and totally dominated against Mayweather. In my opinion, it was a matter of Floyd’s style that made Marquez look amateurish. Marquez also lost against Chris John. Some would say he was robbed. It’s funny because people who are claiming robbery did not see that fight, there is no video of that fight circling the internet. But one thing is clear, Marquez’s camp did NOT vehemently protest of being robbed. They just thought they won.

Marquez is overrated. Without his fight against Pacquiao, he would base his career on his controversial win over the aged Barrera and Casamayor. He disrespects Pacquiao by saying he beat him twice, but could never stay on his feet when fighting him. He could never accept defeat and he insults his opponents. He never gives credit nor compliment guys that beat him.



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