By Jason Kim: Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) will be going after the interim World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight title next month on April 14th against Ukrainian Sergiy Fedchenko (30-1, 13 KO’s) at the New Mexico City Arena in Mexico City, Mexico. Marquez, 38, might want to bring a good pair of shoes that will allow him to chase Fedchenko, because he fights a lot like Romanian Lucian Bute with his hit and run style of fighting.

Marquez wants to pick up the WBO title and then meet up with former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios in the summer in what will be a big pay-per-view bout at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. However, Marquez will be much better off if he goes into that fight with an impressive win over Fedchenko rather than coming in off of a stinker. Fedchenko is a really hard fighter to look good against due to his hit and retreat style. If his opponents come at him, Fedchenko retreats and it makes it frustrating to watch him.

Most of Marquez’s opponents during his career have been come forward types that have tried to mix it up with him and have given him a lot of openings for him to land his hard counter punches. However, Fedchenko gives you very little because he’s not someone that comes forward with anything substantial offensively. At best, Marquez will have Fedchenko slinking forward throwing jabs and fighting leaning backwards to ensure a quick escape route in case Marquez tries to engage him. If you look at Fedchenko’s recent fights against Willy Blain and Lazlo Fazekas, you’ll notice that Fedchenko looked good at fighting while retreating from his opponents. He’s really good at throwing left hooks while backing up and landing with good power while shifting positions. His left hook is probably his best weapon and he does a good job of disguising it by making it look like a lab. He’s not a big puncher, but he’s definitely a legitimate light welterweight, and that could be a problem for Marquez, who has been fighting at lightweight.

Marquez will have to be the aggressor in this fight if he wants to get anything going offensively because Fedchenko won’t give him a lot of opportunities for him to counter. If Marquez is lucky, he could figure Fedchenko out and cut off his retreat routes to get him in fighting in a survival mode but that’ll still take quick feet by Marquez because Fedchenko is so fast at backing up to avoid getting hit.