By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley thinks that Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) must come directly at Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) this Saturday and focus on throwing a lot of punches for him to have a chance at beating the 40-year-old fighter at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Bradley doesn’t think Alvarado has the boxing skills to move around the ring the way he did in beating Marquez, so he must focus on doing what he does best by trying to outwork him. Marquez is a counter puncher who is capable of throwing little more than 40 punches per round under the best of circumstances, Bradley says. If Alvarado throws more shots each round, he has a better chance of winning.
“Mike has had so much success going forward, and little success going backwards,” Bradley said. “Personally, I know it’s dangerous, but I would send Mike at him, but smart, behind a jab, dropping feints, and stepping back at times. But he needs to press the gas tank. He can throw a lot of punches. We know that Marquez only throws 35-40 punches per round if he has to. He doesn’t have a high output.”
Bradley is right. Alvarado doesn’t look nearly as good when he’s backing up compared to when he’s coming forward. He did look decent in moving around laterally for 12 rounds in his rematch against Brandon Rios, but when he tried the same tactic against Ruslan Provodnikov last October, Alvarado gassed out. It’s probably not a good idea for Alvarado to attempt constant movement against Marquez at 147, because it’s a new weight for him, and he’ll be carrying around extra weight because of that.
Alvarado needs to use his size and strength to focus on outworking Marquez, and forcing him to fight at a pace that his aging 40-year-old Body won’t be able to sustain. Alvarado could do damage to Marquez’s face in this fight, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he breaks his nose and/or cuts him around the eyes. Marquez had problems with Manny Pacquiao’s power in their last fight in 2012, and Alvarado punches harder than Pacquiao. If he can jump on Marquez early in the fight, he might be able to beat him up bad enough to score a stoppage.
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