Juan Manuel Marquez vs Floyd Mayweather Jr
Fight Results – Money May Wins Unanimous Decision
Sep 19, 2009
Floyd Mayweather made Fighting Juan Manuel Marquez look easy. And for Mayweather, it was. Even scorecards with margins as wide as 118-109, 120-107, and 119-108 fail to reflect just how lopsided this fight was. Tonight, Mayweather was too big to fail.
Typical of Mayweather, he started the night fighting off his back foot, testing Marquez's speed, power, and reflexes. Obviously the bigger man, Mayweather easily stayed out of Marquez's range by leaning back and allowing Marquez leather to glance off his shoulders and elbows. By using his jab more frequently than usual, Mayweather kept Marquez at the distance he wanted, occasionally allowing the smaller man to come in only to be greeted by a hard jab or quick left hook.
Marquez managed to place a solid right on Mayweather's chin in round two. The next thing Marquez placed was his butt on the canvas when, seconds later, Mayweather unleashed a left hook.
A 21 month layoff did nothing to slow Mayweather down and he soon had the look of a fighter who could take Marquez out if only he stood on the accelerator. Which he did on occasion, but Marquez learned from the knockdown and kept his right glove glued to his chin for the rest of the fight.
Content to land his jab whenever he wanted, Mayweather threw them to the body and head with Marquez, a counterpuncher, unable to counter with any effectiveness.
By round eight Mayweather had shifted his weight to his front foot and had begun to throw punches designed to end the fight. Marquez wasn't going anywhere and took his punishment with class. Although consistently beaten to the punch, with much heavier punches, Marquez never showed signs of being seriously hurt despite being severely overmatched.
Fate saved the real drama for after the fight when Shane Mosley interrupted HBO Pay Per View commentator Max Kellerman's post fight interview with Mayweather to egg the undefeated fighter into a showdown. The near capacity crowd roared with approval. Mayweather answered as all fighters do to such challenges. He'll let his team handle the business outside of the ring, while he handles whomever gets sent his way.
Of the fights out there for Mayweather, Mosley might well be the most competitive. Unfortunately for Mosley, the winner of Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto in November is more marketable by a fair margin.
Mayweather drew Marquez. Pacquiao drew Cotto. All four marquee fighters. Mosley drew Joshua Clottey for a December bout. Fine fighter, but hardly a marquee name. Mosley is going to have to wait until spring for a shot at Mayweather and in the mean time, he would do well to concentrate on the rock-hard Clottey.
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