Bradley-Marquez - One legend ends his path as another starts to pave his way!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97 - @BoxingOpinions1

Timothy Bradley was fighting with something to prove on Saturday night. The 30-year old wanted to show the boxing world that he belongs at the very top with the very best fighters. Despite being a 2-weight world champion and holding wins over some of the best fighters in the sport, the hard-working American never got the recognition he feels he deserves from the fans. To gain that respect and recognition he had to beat Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez.

News of The Day

Catch up on all the news in the boxing world from the past few days!

WORLDWIDE

After his fight with Ray Narh tomorrow night, Jessie Vargas wants a shot at Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez next, providing the veteran gets past Bradley.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum predicts that the fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley this weekend will do between 350,000 and 400,000 PPV buys. He also believes Pacquiao Vs Rios can reach 750K.

Bradley-Marquez - Final Thoughts

PriceysBoxinThoughts

Timothy Bradley Vs Juan Manuel Marquez - Fight Preview

By Jack Sumner @Jack_Sumner_

This Saturday, at the Thomas and Mack Center two miles to the East of the Las Vegas strip, two of the brightest lights in boxing meet in a battle that has thus far been defined by each man’s victory over another star attraction of the sport.

Floyd Mayweather Vs The Rest Of The World

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97. 

So it has been announced: Floyd 'Money' Mayweather will take on Robert 'The Ghost' Guerrero on May 4th! Here is how I think Floyd's fight with Guerrero and four other potential future match-ups could pan out. Enjoy!

Floyd Mayweather Vs Robert Guerrero - Welterweight

Guerrero and Mayweather stare deep into each other's eyes as the referee gives his final instructions in the center of the ring at the MGM Grand. Mayweather, for the first time in his career, seems to have had his feathers ruffled by his quiet but extremely confident opponent. The 35-year old is used to having the fans in the crowd be mostly supportive of his opponent, but he has never experienced anything like this before. Guerrero fans have come in the masses to support their fighter, who is finally getting the opportunity he has been asking for, for so long.

Who is the greatest of this era barring the 'Top 2'?

Nowadays when you ask the question "Who is the greatest boxer of this era?," you only really get two answers... Floyd 'Money' Mayweather and Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao'. For so long these have been the boxers that have been dominating most of the media coverage, debates and most importantly the money in the sport. What I want to know is.. Who would take the top spot if these two guys were around?

Now, this isn't just about who would become pound-for-pound No.1, its also about who would be considered the greatest. And in my opinion to be the greatest you have to be more than just technically skilled. You have to have something special about you. The ability to impact people, change their lives and most importantly let the world know who you are and make people want to watch you fight.

As always when I ask a question like this I want to know what the boxing public think or in Twitter terms the '#BoxingHeads'. So I posted the debate on Twitter and just expected replies regarding mostly the same couple of fighters. But it didn't turn out like that. There was at least twenty to twenty five different boxers mentioned and only a few were mentioned more than once.

Another thing that shocked me was that even up and coming prospects were getting mentioned. Boxers such as Adrien Broner, Kell Brook and even Chris Eubank Jr who has had no more that six fights. Now why I don't agree that these fighters should be considered great already, I took the thought into consideration and realised that these fighters are destined for greatness they're just not there yet.

Of course there were the obvious ones such as Miguel Cotto, Andre Ward and Juan Manuel Marquez (surprisingly nobody actually said the Klitschko's), and yes, these fighters are all great.. But who is the greatest? There was no clear verdict which made me realise one thing:

There is no real cemented definition for great. Greatness means something different to every single person in the world. Everyone has there own perception on who is great, especially in boxing. A sport where everything is debatable.

If I had to chose one fighter from this era to call 'the greatest' it would without a doubt be Floyd Mayweather. But seeing as he is excluded from this argument there is only really one other man out there... Juan Manuel Marquez.

Even at his current age (39-years old) he is still up there as a serious pound-for-pound contender and I think he is the only other fighter out there that you can put in the same bracket as Floyd and Manny.
The one thing I love about the Mexican is that he never fails to provide excitement and entertainment which is why the fans love him so much. I don't think there is anyone out there that can say they're not a fan of Marquez. He's not the stereotypical Mexican that you see powering through taking shots on the chin, he out-boxes and most of the time out-classes his opponents with ease. The guy has been in so many wars over the years but hasn't slowed down at all, he still fights like a fresh mid-twenties boxing technician.

Yep that's it really.. I consider Juan Manuel Marquez as the greatest of fighter of this era (except for Mayweather & Pacquiao). I'm sure there's a lot of you out there that disagree but that's what boxing's all about... OPINIONS! And I suppose every boxer that steps between those ropes are great in their own way.

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Freddie Roach: Pacquiao needs the KO or he'll lose.

Manny Pacquiao (right) & Juan Manuel Marquez (left).

On December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez go head-to-head in the ring for a fourth time.

The results from the three fights have been a draw, a split decision win for Pacquiao and then another win for him, this time by majority decision. However, all three of these fights were very controversial, especially the last two, and a lot of people believe that Marquez deserved to win all three, if not at least two.

This could be seen as an advantage for Marquez heading into their fourth fight as the judges may actually be on his side for once. If a dodgy decision was given to 'Pacman' again then there would be uproar throughout the whole boxing world. Even the Filipino's trainer, Freddie Roach, realises that his fighter may have been a little "lucky" in the previous fights and he believes that Pacquiao will need the knockout if he is to win this fight and prove that he is still up there with the pound-for-pound contenders.

"I've had three chances to come up with the strategy and the style to beat this guy and we haven't done well in any of them and the last one was the worst. Marquez put the muscle on and he kind of landed the power shots in that fight," said Roach. "A lot of people thought we lost that fight... But I need to get Manny to get that killer instinct back. To be pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world, I think we need to knock this guy out. I don't think we'll win a decision regardless of how the fight goes."

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Pacquia-Marquez IIII looking set for December 8th!

Pacquiao (left) & Marquez (right).

According to Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions a deal has almost been reached for a fourth fight between boxing rivals Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39KO's) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38KO's). Now I don't need to go into detail about the controversial history between these two fighters as I'm sure almost every boxing fan across the world will know about the dodgy decisions in the three previous fights involving these two, so let's just go straight on to how the fight actually came about.

 

The fight had been rumoured for a very long time but there were other potential opponents out there for Pacquiao (rematches with Timothy Bradley & Miguel Cotto or the super showdown with Floyd Mayweather). But once again, the fight with Mayweather has been "pushed over to next year" (I wonder if "next year" will ever come), Miguel Cotto is tied up in a fight with Austin Trout and Pacquiao and his team don't want the fight with Timothy Bradley. So seeing as there is nobody else really out there at the moment and everybody believes that Marquez deserves yet another shot at "Pacman", this seems like the most logical fight at this current time.

 

Marquez's promoter Fernando Beltran claims that if the fight does happen, it will take place on December 8th. He also said that the fight is very likely going to happen, but stressed that it is not a certainty.

 

"The only reason that I can't guarantee the fight is [happening] is because there isn't a signed contract from Pacquiao in front of us. Nevertheless, in the next few hours we will have it. I can't say anything more because I am being conservative, but I can say that it is 95 percent done," explained Beltran.

 

De La Hoya discusses Bradley's future...

WBO champ Timothy 'Dessert Storm' Bradley.

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya realises that WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley has what it takes to become a very big star of the future, and the 39-year old has revealed that there are a lot of potential opponents for him in the Golden Boy stable.

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La  Hoya.

There's a lot of great fighters in the welterweight division and there's no doubt that 'Dessert Storm' will want to fight every single one of them. De La Hoya has a chequered past with Bradley's promoter Bob Arum but he hopes that this won't affect the chances of any big fights happening.

"There's a lot of options out there, a lot of great fights," said De La Hoya. "The only thing Bob Arum and Top Rank has to do is pick up the phone and call... We have all the fighters, we have all the opponents, we have all the big fights that people want to see. Pick up the phone. I'm sure Bradley wants to fight all of them."

The fighters that De La Hoya is talking about, are the likes of Amir Khan, Paulie Malignaggi and Devon Alexander. Seeing Bradley in the ring with any one of these would be a very interesting match-up for the fans and the fighters.

The 28-year old could continue to fight Top Rank promoted fighters but he would run out of options pretty fast. The only other big name welterweights in Bob Arum's stable are Manny Pacquiao, who Bradley has already fought and beat in a very controversial fight, and Juan Manuel Marquez who his almost reaching 40 and will likely not have many big fights left in him..

Juan Manuel Marquez returns July 21st or 28th...

Juan Manuel Marquez.

It has been confirmed that Mexican light-welterweight Juan Manuel Marquez will not be fighting on July 14thas Top Rank could not find a suitable opponent for the man who is adamant that he wants to fight a southpaw so that he can prepare for a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Top Rank offered Marquez Zab Judah and Brandon Rios. Either of these would have earned the 38-year old a big amount of money but he simply refused to fight them because they were not a southpaw. When Top Rank finally found a southpaw that was a half decent fighter, the fight was scrapped as Marquez wanted too much money. The light-welterweight champ was in search for a big money fight but Gesta is not a big enough name to draw in the kind of money that he wants.

It has not even been confirmed that Marquez will fight Pacquiao at the end of the year but the Mexican is confident that the bout will happen. In his previous fights with the Filipino he has lost two and drawn one. However, these have all been very controversial decisions and some people believe that Marquez deserved to win all three.

So, it now looks like Marquez will be fighting in Mexico once again for the third time in just four fights. And, it will likely be against a fighter that will not draw in any big money and will probably not prepare him for Manny Pacquiao.

The July 14th show will be replaced by a new card that features Amir Khan Vs Danny Garcia and Seth Mitchell Vs Johnathon Banks.

Donaire and Rios double-header set for June 30th!

Nonito Donaire                                                   Brandon Rios

WBO super-bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire will now be fighting on June 30th against IBF champion Jeffry Mathebula at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios will also be on the card against an opponent that has not yet been confirmed.

Donaire (28-1, 18 KO's) was originally set to fight against Cristian Mijares on July 14th on the same card as Juan Manuel Marquez but it looks very likely that the show will no longer be taking place. The pound-for-pound contender won the super-bantamweight title against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr back in February of last year. It was a tough fight for Donaire but it enabled him to show off his class and superior boxing skills.

Rios was very lucky to get the decision against Abril.

Rios (30-0-1) disappointed a lot of people in his last fight and as a result has lost a lot of value in the boxing world. He was easily out-boxed over 12 rounds against Cuban lightweight Richard Abril but shockingly he was announced as the winner by majority decision. There was no way you could even argue that Rios even came close to winning the fight and many people protested against the decision. Rios was lined up for a July 14th showdown with Marquez but after his poor performance it would be foolish even to put him in the ring with Marquez.

Donaire's opponent Jeffry Mathebula (26-3-2, 14 KO's) is a big step down in class and it is a bit of a surprise that Bob Arum did not try and match him with a more known opponent. Many people think that Arum is just trying to prolong Donaire's run as champion for as long as possible and make as much money out of him as possible until he is forced to face one of the more dangerous fighters in the division.

This fight will most likely be 'Bam Bam' Rios' first fight at light-welterweight as it has been clear in his last two fights that he just simply cannot make the weight for the lightweight division anymore.

The Donaire-Mathebula fight will headline the show and Rios' fight will be chief support. Overall, it's another good show to look forward to in the next few months.

Marquez Vs Morales potential fight for July 14th...

Juan Manuel Marquez                                     Erik Morales.

According to reports, Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions and Todd DuBeof are in talks to stage a Mexican showdown between Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales. The fight has a 50-50 chance of happening as a few days ago Marquez narrowed his options down to just two men... Mercito Gesta and Morales.

If this fight does happen, it will be a rare occasion where Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank actually work together to make an interesting and exciting fight. At first, it seemed as if GBP were just going to let Morales out of his current deal and let him pursue the fight with Marquez but it sounds like the two companies may be willing to co-promote the fight.

"Morales wants to fight Marquez," said Schaefer. "And I have been talking to Todd DuBeof over the past few days, and we are trying to find a way to see if we can get that fight done."

It would have been a little better if this fight was made just a few years ago when both Mexican warriors were in their prime. Marquez is still going strong and is still near the top of the pound-for-pound rankings but at the age of 38 he will no doubt soon start to take the slide that most fighters do when they get close to 40. Morales is younger than Marquez (35-years old) but has certainly not aged as well. His last outing against Danny Garcia was very disappointing if you compare it to the good old days when Morales was one of the fittest and toughest fighters in the game.

However, this is a still a very interesting fight as it is the only fight of the great featherweight four-some (Marquez, Morales, Pacquiao, Barrera) that has not happened and it will be a fight that a lot of people will want to see if both men can agree terms and put everything they have into what could be one of the last big fights in either man's career.

Marquez Vs Judah likely for July 14th...

Zab Judah.

According to reports, talks are under way between the camp of Mexican ring legend Juan Manuel Marquez and former welterweight ruler Zab Judah. Marquez is booked in for a fight at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas for July 14th and somebody needs to take the place of original opponent Brandon Rios after his poor performance against Richard Abril last month.

Judah has recently regained momentum in his career by stopping Vernon Paris in the 9th round of their IBF title eliminator. His career took a major blow when he was stopped by Amir Khan back in 2011. He is now looking to the prove to the world and himself that he still has what it takes to share the ring with one of the best fighters in the world.

"It's a fight I have campaigned for," said Judah. "This is a fight I wanted a couple of years ago and I still want it. I want him. He fought Floyd Mayweather and never touched him, and he got dropped. I can do that too."

Marquez cruised to victory against Fedchenko.

Marquez's last fight was against Serhiy Fedchenko. The 39-year old Mexican looked very classy and picked up the WBO interim light-welterweight title. He has admitted that his main focus is a fourth fight with nemesis Manny Pacquiao which he hopes can be made for the end of this year. But, he needs a challenge in his next fight so that he can keep in-shape and keep ticking over.

Judah's promoter Kathy Duva also commented on the situation: "I've been having discussions with Bob (Arum) for the past 24 hours. But the deal is not done. Obviously we'd love to do it. I think it's a saleable fight, a terrific fight. These guys are both big names, so we would love do it and it's not a complicated deal to make. He (Judah) really wants the fight but Bob hasn't made us an offer yet... Bob knows that Zab is available, so we are talking about it.

Bob Arum is set to make an announcement this afternoon regarding Marquez's next opponent. The original opponent being talked about was British light-welterweight Paul McCloskey but after his shock stoppage loss to Demarcus Corley at the weekend it doesn't like that he will be the man sharing the ring with Marquez on July 14th.

Abril is willing to fight Rios again...

I guess you've all heard by now about the fight between Richard Abril and Brandon Rios. If you haven't, all you need to know is that Abril out-boxed Rios throughout the whole fight and won almost every round on most people's scorecards. But, Rios was the bigger name fighter and the home town favourite so two out of the three judges decided to give the decision to him. This caused uproar amongst the fans and the rest of the boxing world as they believed that Abril had been robbed of the WBA title.

The 29-year old Cuban is still very annoyed about the whole thing and has told  World Boxing News that he is still hoping to retain his interim WBA championship. He may then decide to move up to 140lb if an opportunity arises.

"We are still waiting for the rankings from the WBA, but I am confident I will be given a shot at the vacant title," said Abril.

"As soon as the first judge gave Rios the decision, I knew I had lost the fight and all the talk of holding after the bout was his team trying to justify the boxing clinic that I gave him... I am more than willing to move up to 140lb  and give Rios another schooling but I doubt Rios would accept the fight."

When he was asked whether he would like to fight the likes of Yuriorkis Gamboa or Sergio Thompson for the vacant belt, Abril answered: "I will fight King Kong if I have to. It doesn't matter who they offer me."

"If the opportunity came up to fight Juan Manuel Marquez,I would willingly move up to light-welterweight, not for any personal reasons against him.. Just as it would be an honour to share the ring with him," said  Abril.

A rematch between Abril and Rios is very unlikely to happen as I cannot see Rios and his team accepting that fight. The match that we have the most chance of seeing is probably Abril Vs Gamboa for the vacant belt. What a great fight that would be...

Marquez Vs Rios? Winner will fight Pacquiao?

Brandon Rios                                       Juan Manuel Marquez

On April 14th Juan Manuel Marquez and Brandon Rios are set to 
co-headline a HBO PPV event. Marquez will face Serhiy Fedchenko and 
Rios will be facing last minute step-in Richard Abril. The fight will 
take place in Las Vegas. Whilst both of these fights are relatively big, Top Rank are planning to stage two more fights leading from this 
show that are a lot bigger. 

There have been a lot of rumours recently that Marquez and Rios will 
meet in the ring at Cowboys Stadium in Texas providing they both win 
their fights in April. Bob Arum has repeatedly said that he wants this 
fight to happen but some people believe it is just a way to sell the underwhelming PPV on April 14th. 

Marquez giving Pacquiao more than he can handle.

Anyway, if the fight does happen, then fight fans all around the world will be extremely lucky as the winner could get a chance to fight Manny Pacquiao later this year.

Marquez will almost certainly jump at the chance to fight Pacquiao as 
he has been talking about it for a very long time and whilst this fight 
isn't Rios' main target, I'm sure he would also jump at the chance to step 
in the ring with somebody as great and as well-known as Manny Pacquiao. 

Of course, this fight can only happen if Pacquiao manages to beat 
Timothy Bradley on June 9th. If he doesn't, he will surely want to 
fight Bradley in a rematch in November. 

Many believe that if Marquez and Rios do meet in the squared circle it will be the fight of the year, and we all know how the fights between Marquez and Pacquiao go (non-stop action all the way through), and 
let's not forget Rios. Any fight that involves him will definitely be 
entertaining. 

So to sum it all up... As long as Marquez and Rios win their fights on April 14th, we will all be treated with two amazing fights later this 
year.

Marquez set to fight Pacquiao and Gesta!

Juan Manuel Marquez (right) with promoter Fernando Beltran (left).

Juan Manuel Marquez's promoter Fernando Beltran has said that his 
fighter will be boxing Manny Pacquiao and Mercito Gesta in the near 
future. 

He announced the fights at a press conference for Marquez's fight on 
April 14th against Serhiy Fedchenko. 

“Juan Manuel will fight Fedchenko en April, then on July 14 against 
Mercito Gesta at Cowboys Stadium, and in November the fourth fight with 
Pacquiao,” said Beltran.
 

Beltran is thought to have been the key figure in getting Marquez his 
third fight with Pacquiao last year and the 'Pacman' has already 
announced that he wants to fight Marquez for a fourth time before he 
retires. So the fight will almost definitely happen as long as there 
are no problems. 

Although the two fighters want the bout to happen, the fans most likely 
do not. As a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr seems much 
more appealing, but this is a good back up fight if negotiations 
between Pacquiao and Mayweather are not successful. 

There have also been rumours about a potential fight between Marquez and Brandon Rios, who is also fighting on April 14th. Now, this is a 
fight that the fans would certainly like to see. When we announced on Twitter that there could be a chance of a fight between Marquez and 
Rios, the response was amazing, with many people predicting it would be 
the 'fight of the year'. 

Bob Arum from Top Rank Promotions who represent Pacquiao and Gesta was 
not available for comment.

Juan Manuel Marquez Vs Brandon Rios... July 14th!

Rios (left) , Marquez (right).

The fight is not 100% yet but I'd say it's almost definite to happen seeing as everyone wants it to happen. That's right, we could be seeing one of the greatest lightweight match-ups in recent years which many people are already saying is a certain 'Fight Of The Year'.

Boxing fans were very disappointed when the highly anticipated clash between Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa was cancelled due to Gamboa backing out of the fight; but now they have been given something that will most likely prove to be even better.

It has been reported that Top Rank are already in talks with Dallas Cowboys officials about having the boxing match at Cowboys Stadium.
There is already another bout planned for the July 14th event which consists of Nonito Donaire Vs Cristian Mijares which will likely be slid into the co-headline slot with the Rios and Marquez bout if it is arranged.

Bob Arum has said that he wants the fight and it's almost definite as long as Marquez and Rios win their fights on April 14th, which should not prove too hard as many people believe that both of their opponents are not on their level.

Adrien Broner says Juan Manuel Marquez is "easy money"

@THABOXINGVOICE

Highly-rated WBC lightweight world champion Adrien Broner talks to ThaBoxingVoice and discusses a potential future clash with legendary Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. 

Mayweather talks about his opponents and beating the guy he though that nobody could beat.

EsNewsReporting.com

Tim Bradley discusses Rios, Alvarado & Marquez