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by Cliff Rold - Juan Manuel Marquez, once decried for being too technical, has been in the Fight of the Year twice in the last five years, with a couple other classics to go with it. Mike Alvarado has been in Fight of the Year candidates in each of his last three starts.
Now they’re fighting each other.
If this fight is anything less than memorable, it will be the biggest upset of the night. The next biggest upset would be Alvarado garnering the biggest win of his career against one of the greatest Mexican battlers ever to grace the squared circle.
Can “Mile High” climb to the biggest peak of his professional life?
Both men enter this bout coming off losses, but the type of losses matters. Marquez lost a competitive, largely technical clash to Timothy Bradley. Alvarado was overwhelmed by the pitbull that is Ruslan Provodnikov. With stoppage losses in two of his last three, Alvarado has his back to the wall in a big way.
Marquez simply has the decision about how much longer he wants to do this. A fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao looms if he can get by here. How motivating is that for him after over a year of saying fighting Pacquiao again doesn’t interest him that much in general? We’ll find out Saturday.
One thing we do know is Marquez isn’t in many easy fights dating to his second clash with Pacquiao in 2008. His counter punching, fitness, and ring IQ have allowed him to remain one of the best in the world but men like Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis have pushed him hard. Like Alvarado, both those fighters brought a quality pressure game to the ring. Katsidis brought a big punch too, dropping Marquez before tasting defeat. [Click Here To Read More]
Now they’re fighting each other.
If this fight is anything less than memorable, it will be the biggest upset of the night. The next biggest upset would be Alvarado garnering the biggest win of his career against one of the greatest Mexican battlers ever to grace the squared circle.
Can “Mile High” climb to the biggest peak of his professional life?
Both men enter this bout coming off losses, but the type of losses matters. Marquez lost a competitive, largely technical clash to Timothy Bradley. Alvarado was overwhelmed by the pitbull that is Ruslan Provodnikov. With stoppage losses in two of his last three, Alvarado has his back to the wall in a big way.
Marquez simply has the decision about how much longer he wants to do this. A fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao looms if he can get by here. How motivating is that for him after over a year of saying fighting Pacquiao again doesn’t interest him that much in general? We’ll find out Saturday.
One thing we do know is Marquez isn’t in many easy fights dating to his second clash with Pacquiao in 2008. His counter punching, fitness, and ring IQ have allowed him to remain one of the best in the world but men like Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis have pushed him hard. Like Alvarado, both those fighters brought a quality pressure game to the ring. Katsidis brought a big punch too, dropping Marquez before tasting defeat. [Click Here To Read More]
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