By Don Donatello
What is Juan Manuel Marquez up to; lets first look at the obvious. At age 33, Marquez was still fighting at 126 pounds, the Featherweight division. His last fight at Featherweight was against Jimrex Jaca in 2006. From 2007 to 2008, he fought three times at 130 pounds, the Super Featherweight division; in succession, he fought Marco Antonio Barrera, Rocky Juarez, and Manny Pacquiao. From November of 2008 to the present, he had five fights, 4 of the 5 were fought at 135, the Lightweight division. The single fight that was not fought at Lightweight was his disastrous foray into the Welterweight division at 147 pounds against Floyd Mayweather jr.
The Welterweight limit is 147 pounds, Marquez weighed in at only 142 pounds, Mayweather weighed in at 146 pounds. The fight was contracted at the catchweight of 144 pounds. Mayweather did not make an effort to make 144 and he weighed in at 146 pounds. For Mayweather not making the agreed weight, Marquez was duped into accepting a mere $600K to go through with the scheduled fight. Mayweather refused HBO’s request to be weighed at fight night.
At Welterweight against Mayweather, Marquez was utterly a waste case. He was slow, he was fat, he was ineffective, and his sense of timing was totally off. Being outweighed, out sized, and out sped by Mayweather, Marquez lost every round in a 12 round fight.
Marquez was knocked down in the second round but the light hitting Mayweather could not finish him.
Marquez went back down two divisions where he is most comfortable and effective, at 135 pounds in the Lightweight division. This year, he fought at Lightweight twice, a rematch UD win over Juan Diaz and a 9nth round KO win over Michael Katsidis. Both opponents are considered B-Rated, one dimensional fighters.
The Lightweight division is a very weak division consisting of unknown Champions. Some guy name Miguel Vasquez is the IBF champ, Humberto Soto is the WBC champ, Michael Katsidis was the WBO Interim champ, and the best known is the WBO champion, Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez knows he is not a Welterweight, he is not even a Jr. Welterweight; and he knows that the Lightweight division is full of low talented fighters. They have fighters with names like Migaki, Arakawa, Guerrero, Castro, Perez, Rios, and Moses within the top 10 list. Is it a wonder why Marquez wants to remain and fight at the Lightweight division?
The Jr. Welterweight division is full of big talent and recognizable names; it is where Marquez should prove himself if he wants to fight Pacquiao. Amir Khan, Tim Bradley, Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Zab Judah, and even Erik Morales are at the Jr. Welterweight division. Aside from Erik Morales, any of the mentioned would stop and annihilate Juan Manuel Marquez. Is it a wonder why Marquez refuse to fight anyone at the Jr. Welterweight division? Marquez knows he is a waste case at 140 and above.
Marquez wants to fight at the 141-147 pounds division, the Welterweight division, against WBO Champion Pacquiao. It is also, where WBC Champion Andre Berto and Floyd Mayweather are fighting. So let me get this straight, even though Marquez lost every round he has ever fought above 135 pounds, Marquez thinks he deserve to fight the 147 pound, Welterweight Champion, and Fighter of the Decade, Manny Pacquiao. In Pacquiao’s last fight against Antonio Margarito, Manny pulverized Margarito even though he was outweighed by 17 pounds.
Talent and skill wise, the Welterweight division is head and shoulders above any other division. It is where the two best fighters in the world are at, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. The Lightweight division, where Marquez is the Champion, is considered as one of the weakest. There is no notable and proven fighters at that division, a near 40 year old man is the champion. Enough said.
So lets see how this works. Take the Champion of a very weak division such as the Lightweight division (135 pounds), and take the Champion from the strongest division (WW 147 pounds), and have them fight each other at the WW division. The Champ from the WW division is the Fighter of the Decade, and fought and shut out an opponent who outweighed him by 17 pounds. The Lightweight Champ has fought only once above his own division and lost every round. What is your conclusion if these two Champion fought at the Welterweight division?
The outcome is crystal-like, crystalline, and crystal clear; I don’t know how to make it clearer. Anyone who knows boxing should be able to conclude the obvious.
So why does Juan Manuel Marquez want to jump off the cliff? It is a one way trip. There is no coming back once he takes the leap. But something fantastic happened this past week. Now I know the reason why. It is so obvious now. It’s is close to being a suicide.
It’s a letter addressed to Pacquiao. Guess who it’s from?
Dear Manny Pacquiao,
Hey, Pacquiao, Im 38 years old and I need a big paycheck for my retirement, I’m not going to lie to you. I know you will knock me out in our next fight, you know it, Roach knows it, and I know it, but I want $5 million for it. Its worth it for you; you will wipe away the question mark of our two previous fights. If you knock me out at 144 pound, you once again show the world you are better than Mayweather. That is worth $5 million to you. Besides, what is $5 million to you? To you its peanuts, for me, its a retirement fund. Think of that money as an investment, an investment toward your legacy and greatness . For $5 million you can have my head on the canvas. Plus there will be no more T-Shirt that says I beat you twice;; and I will no longer be a thorn at your side too. What do you say, bro?
Otherwise, Ill keep reminding people of our last two fights and claim that I beat you twice. I’ll also keep telling people that I fought you and Mayweather and I’ll be telling everyone that Mayweather is better than you are. You can disprove it by knocking me out at 144, the same weight that I fought Mayweather. You can fight me with both you and me coming in at 144 pounds. Mayweather had four pounds on me, you won’t have that advantage like Floyd. Your win over me in which we both weighed the same, will have more validity and weight to use against Mayweather.
If you wait too long, people are going to say that you fought me when I was too old and washed up. Then you invalidate your win because Mayweather fought me when I was still a very capable fighter. Any loss that I suffer will wash away your chance to erase the question mark on your legacy.. That’s why I’m staying away from the Jr. Welterweights like Khan and Berto. Im doing you a favor by hiding out in the weak Lightweight division, I know I won’t suffer a loss there no matter who I fight. Just who is going to beat me at Lightweight, Migaki, Arakawa, Moses, Perez, Katsidis? Who? See what I mean?
I know that I am useless at 140 and above, you know it, and Roach knows it. Why do you think that I will not fight anyone at 140? But as long as I keep winning at 135, it leads people to think that I am still good and can give you a big challenge. We both know better than that. The public cant add the fact that winning at 135 does not mean I can be a viable fighter at a heavier weight at 147.
Losing all twelve rounds in my only fight above 140 should be obvious to everyone. Why some fans don’t get it, he-he, I don’t know; the better it is for me and you if they don’t, right? Christmas is just around the corner, and so is my retirement. You know what, bro, there is nothing I would prefer more for a Christmas gift than one last fight with you, bro. So how about it, bro, its a fair deal, I get what I want, and you get what you want.
Feliz Navidad
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