About As 50-50 As It Gets: Bradley-Marquez Preview

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This weekend a super-fight takes place in Las Vegas. Future hall of famer Juan Manuel Marquez goes to war against unbeaten Timothy Bradley in a fascinating welterweight clash.

 Both men come into the fight with fairly recent victories over a great of the sport in Manny Pacquiao. Marquez destroyed Pacquiao in their latest fight with a ferocious right hand leaving Pacquiao knocked out. It was a huge punch and one of the best knock outs I’ve seen in a long time. This went part of the way to satisfying Marquez after a few controversial decisions went against him in their previous fights.

Bradley beat Pacquiao last year on a controversial points decision. Most spectators thought that Manny was the deserved winner and so Bradley suffered a lot of abuse as a result. Bradley’s career was halted for a while with so much hatred being shown to him.

 Having watched Bradley’s fight with Pacquiao, I also believe that Manny was the rightful winner and that he had been robbed by the judges. Despite this there was no need for Bradley to receive such abuse for getting the win. It is not his fault that the judges gave that decision.

 Marquez will come into this fight with a fantastic record of 55 wins, 6 losses and 1 no contest. He is a seven time world champion over 4 weight divisions and a true legend of the sport. Aged 40, Marquez doesn’t appear to be showing signs of his age and continues to roll back the years producing vintage displays.

 Marquez has been in with the likes of the already mentioned Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Juan Diaz and Marco Antonio Barrera. These are some truly elite level fighters and Marquez holds victories over all of them barring Mayweather. This shows the caliber of fighter that Marquez is and with all his experience he will be a very tough opponent for Bradley.

Bradley will head into the fight with a highly impressive record of 30 wins and 1 no contest. Bradley has beaten some top fighters including the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander. He is a top level fighter and is more than worthy of stepping into the ring with Marquez.

 The styles of the two fighters should make for an intriguing battle. Marquez is a typically tough Mexican who will give whatever it takes to win. He is also a highly skilled counter-puncher and as we have seen in recent times has great power in his shots.

Marquez is also good when the going gets tough and is able to scrap well. He is better at this side of the sport than Bradley who is a more technically based boxer.

Bradley is quick and very classy. He can often make his opponents look several leagues below him with his quick in and out combinations. He manages to do his work without having to take too many shots in return but has been drawn into brawls in the past.

In his last fight with Ruslan Provodnikov Bradley was determined to silence the doubters and put on a real display so he went out with a very aggressive style. He looked to stand in front of the tough Provodnikov and trade shots. It made for great viewing and was one of my favorite fights of the year but it was not the right tactics for Bradley to use. Bradley was caught with far too many big shots and could so easily have lost the fight.

Bradley showed great heart and gained a lot of respect for his performance but I am sure that he will go back to his more slick style in this fight with Marquez. He will have more respect for a man who has done it all before and is in great physical shape for a man of his age.

 For me this is going to be a close fight with Marquez looking to be the aggressor against the quicker and younger man. Marquez will try to force Bradley to go toe to toe with him in a scrap as that will suit his skill set a lot more than it will Bradley.

I expect Marquez to try and start off very quickly looking to put the pressure on Bradley right from the bell. I then predict Bradley starting to have more success the longer the fight goes on with him being 10 years younger and surely the fitter fighter.

I am going to predict Marquez to do the job once again and show just why he is regarded as a legend of the sport. I predict a middle to late round knockout. I think that Marquez will struggle with Bradley’s speed but that at some point he will walk onto a big shot and will be in trouble. As Marquez has shown before he can end a fight in devastating fashion with just one punch.

I am really excited about this fight as I really do believe it is one of the best fights out there. Both men are top level fighters and both will be determined to win. Bradley is an undefeated fighter coming into this fight looking to secure his legacy in the sport and Marquez will be determined to beat off another contender.  

Where the winner goes from this fight I am unsure but if Pacquiao comes through his fight with Rios successfully then he will surely be mentioned as the opponent. If Marquez wins than it sets up a thrilling 5th fight of an epic rivalry and if Bradley wins than the chance to settle the score is available.

This is going to be a great fight and I personally cannot wait for the rest of the week to disappear and for it to be fight time!