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Right now the world knows Mayweather for his outside of ring legal issues and Marquez for his urine drinking but don't let that fool you. These are two of the top fighters in the world inside the ring and that is all that matters. September 19, will define what is going to happen to the loaded welterweight division. Before I get into the impact of this fight, the fighters must be talked about.
Mayweather was regarded as the top fighter in the world before he retired in December 2007. He had an undefeated record and had just beaten Oscar De La Hoya ad Knocked out Ricky Hatton. He said he wanted to retire to stay healthy and leave on top, yet there was unfinished business. Miguel Cotto was undefeated at the time, Shane Mosely and Antonio Margarito were dominating the division, and Paul Williams was jumping around in weight classes just to get a fight. Was Mayweather ducking fighters? It didn't matter because he retired. Now he chose the lone fighter to call him out of retirement as his opponent and this choice was a bad one for him. Mayweather is having a tune up fight for Manny Pacquiao and for some reason chose Juan Manuel Marquez. It is probably because Marquez is jumping up in weight to fight him.
Mayweather's fighting style is not exciting, he dances and runs until he wins by decision. He did knock out Ricky Hatton but time has shown that is not hard to do. When Mayweather fought Oscar De La Hoya he never stood up to him and skated to a boring victory. He has to do this again to win by decision and I hope he doesn't because it is boring. If Mayweather really wants to beat Marquez he needs only do one thing, jump on him early and dominate. This is not his style but unless he runs the whole fight, which he might very well do, he can not stand toe-toe with Marquez. If he does he will loose and stop the mega fight fair weather boxing fans want to see.
Marquez is coming off of two knock out victories over top contenders, Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz. He was looking for another fight with Manny Pacquiao but Pacquiao doesn't want it, so he settled for Mayweather. Marquez is regarded by many as the number 2 top fighter behind Pacquiao but in this bloggers book he's number 1. HE is the smartest man in boxing today and his smarts will be his only chance for victory.
Marquez in every fight takes three rounds to feel out his opponents and he often gets pretty beat up in those three rounds. Then he turns on a switch and dominates. He watches his opponents style and exploits weaknesses. This is why he is such a good fighter. He might have to chase Mayweather around to get a fight leaving himself exposed but he has to try not to.
My prediction is Marquez Split Decision.
What is this going to do for the division? Shane Mosely is still looking for an opponent, Paul Williams is fighting at 160 lbs. and Andre Berto doesn't have any fights scheduled yet. The loser of this might fight the loser of Cotto-Pacquiao but the big story is the winner. If Marquez wins his fight and Pacquiao wins his, I believe he will, then will Pacquaio fight him. If the average boxing fan wants Mayweather-Pacquiao then they might get it. I should hope not. Where will Mayweather go if he loses? Will Marquez go back to dominating 130 lbs if he looses? This is very pivotal fight for a strong division and I will be one the viewers of this fight.
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