By Rachel Aylett: Just a few final musings on the Marquez vs Bradley fight from last weekend. It was noticeable that in the build up to the fight, Marquez on at least two occasions mentioned that he was considering retirement afterwards. I think it likely therefore that we might have seen the last of him. Marquez was never able to get to grips with the fast-raiding style of Bradley and, to use an old cliché, was hoist by his own petard. The counter-puncher was out countered by the younger, quicker, fresher man.
As I wrote in my preview of the fight, Marquez had recently developed his musculature, with the help of tainted strength and conditioning coach Angel Hernandez, seemingly in a desperate attempt to compete for power with his deadly rival Pacquiao. This may have helped him score the sensational knockout over Pacman that he will forever be remembered for. However, it may be poetic justice that his new musclebound frame seemed to count against him in the fight with Bradley. It meant that he had lost a lot of his speed and was therefore unable to cope with the fleet-footed Bradley.
In his great career, Marquez struggled mightily to overcome good but not great opponents such as Juan Diaz, Michael Katsidis and Joel Casamayor. He always saved his best performances and will obviously be best remembered for his four epic encounters with Manny Pacquiao, where he was either at or near his best each time. Perhaps he should have just stuck to fighting Manny every time he entered the ring. What may keep him in the game is the still unfulfilled achievement of being the first Mexican to win major championship belts in five different weight categories. There are no easy options for him at welterweight though, with Mayweather, Bradley, Broner and Alexander as the champions. Alexander looks the most vulnerable out of the four but is already lined up to defend against Shawn Porter and has Britain’s Kell Brook as his next mandatory.
The scoring of Glenn Feldman in favour of Marquez came in for a lot of criticism. In reviewing my records after the fight, I noted that Feldman also put in one of the most bizarre cards of 2012, when he scored Pablo Cesar Cano a 118-109 winner over Paulie Malignaggi in their WBA welterweight title fight. The other two judges had it 114-113 for Malignaggi, as dId I. He clearly has the occasional off day! Interestingly, fightscorecollector.blogspot.co.uk’s survey of 89 journalists and boxing writers showed that only four saw Bradley as the winner, with the concensus score being 115-113 for Desert Storm. However, four of the first six rounds were extremely close, with just one or two punches separating the boxers in each of those rounds. It would have meant a judge awarding all of those rounds to Marquez in order to make him the winner. This is unrealistic. The last round in particular was almost the fight in microcosm. Marquez was winning the round until the very end when Bradley landed the best punch of the fight, a left hook to the chin, which sent Marquez staggering back across the ring and just about managing to retain his feet. Because of this punch, I scored the round to Bradley, whereas I was preparing to score it for Marquez. This altered my score to 116-112, whereas otherwise it would have been 115-113 to Bradley.
Although it was a close fight though, it always seemed as though Bradley was in control. Likewise, it always seemed as though Marquez was floundering and struggling to get to grips with his opponent. It certainly seemed like a 116-112 fight, rather than a 115-113 fight. Although the protestations of a bad decision came thick and fast from the Marquez camp after the fight, it certainly didn’t look either during or immediately after the fight as though he thought he was winning it.
For Bradley, there seems to be a lack of understanding as to why he is either under-rated or only grudgingly respected. Unfortunately, Bradley does not score knockouts. He hardly even scores knockdowns. The boxing fan will always have their imagination and admiration taken by fighters who carry the threat of flattening their opponent. This, I believe, is another reason why female boxing will never truly catch on. They don’t carry that threat of a knockout that a lot of the men do. The same applies to Bradley. I know that Mayweather does not carry that threat either, but he has the personality and the wonderful boxing skills to over-ride this with the fans. Bradley has neither. I fear that he will always be admired rather than loved by the fans.
One final word on this fight – I understand that famed writer Thomas Hauser was one of the few journalists who had Marquez winning the fight. This is ironic, as I remember Thomas being the only major journo to have Bradley winning over Pacquiao. He must hate judging Bradley’s fights. I wouldn’t be surprised if next time Bradley fights, Tom is either out of town or sat in his apartment with a blanket over his head.
Turning to Britain now and there have been some comings and goings with fighters changing their promotional teams. The Evangelou brothers have signed with Frank Warren’s team, an event which has been heavily advertised by said team. Times must be hard if you are crowing about signing a fighter who has lost his last two fights to Danny Connor. Oh dear!
A better signing for that team came with the acquisition of Liverpool’s Derry Mathews. Mathews was lined up to fight Kevin Mitchell in defence of his Commonwealth title and came in for an awful lot of stick when it was clear that fight wouldn’t be happening after all. Mathews was vilified in some quarters as having “bottled” the fight. How unforgiving people can be. Derry has provided us with more excitement than almost any other fighter in Britain over the past 2-3 years. However, his career is at a crucial stage. He simply cannot afford another loss and against Mitchell he would have been a serious outsider. Mathews stated that he felt he was being set up and virtually used as a stepping-stone for Mitchell. I agree that this was the case. Instead, Derry will be in the “home” corner, fighting in Liverpool, with his new backers plotting the final steps in his career path with the utmost care. The first hurdle is to be Irishman Stephen Ormond, as Mathews challenges for the WBO European title on Warren’s Liverpool bill on 7 December. This is a very winnable fight for Derry and I am convinced he has made an excellent career decision.
An opponent was this week announced for Dereck Chisora’s first defence of the European heavyweight title, and it was ……. wait for it – Arnold Gjergjaj. I like to think I have a wide knowledge of the game as it stands today, but my immediate response to this was – who?? On inspection of the Albanian-Swiss boxer’s record, it showed that he has never even fought in a 10-round contest. What a joke this was. As I am writing this, I am hearing that Gjergjaj has now pulled out of this fight with an injury. He probably passed out at the thought of going in with Chisora and twisted his knee as he fainted. When an opponent pulls out and a substitute is sought, the sub is usually of a lesser quality than the original opponent. I’m not sure how that’s going to work this time. Perhaps they will try to pull Jean-Pierre Coopman out of retirement! Remember him?
On that same Copper Box bill an opponent is being sought for British middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. I understand that they are trying to make a match with former Commonwealth light-middleweight champion Jamie Cox. Really? This will be a poor match. Cox is just a blown-up welterweight who has failed to live up to his fine amateur form since turning pro. Due to chronic hand problems Cox has had one fight in the past two years, and that a six-rounder against a fighter with a losing record. If this fight is made it will merely be an exercise aimed at gaining Billy Joe the Lonsdale belt outright so he can then vacate the British title and move on. Not good for the fans though. The promoter’s call for the Copper Box shows is “Let’s Rock the Box”. With fights like these the fans won’t be rocking, they’ll be calling for a refund.
Finally, the saga of the Hatton family resurfaced again this week with the publishing of Ricky Hatton’s new book. In it, he apparently bares his soul (yet again) and tells all and sundry about his suicidal thoughts and details of his family feud with his parents, who he apparently hasn’t spoken to for some time. Attention-seeking Hatton and his mother have also been seen sniping at each other on Twitter. How undignified can you get? Ricky Hatton has all the fame and fortune that anyone could ask for. He is possibly the most popular British fighter in the history of the sport. Yet on he goes, talking about his depression and his suicidal thoughts and his horrible family. For god’s sake man, get over yourself. There are people in this world who have to live through real, genuine horrors, but just get on with it. What do you want out of your life?? You are a lucky young man. Go and make up with your family, who helped you to reach the heights you did. Stop concentrating on yourself and try supporting the fighters who are relying on you to help them with their futures in the sport.
@RachelAylett1
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