By Ian S Palmer
Juan Manuel Marquez will be taking on Mike Alvarado in a 12-round welterweight bout at the Inglewood Forum in California this Saturday, May 17 in a crossroads fight for both boxers. The bout will be shown live across North America by HBO and the winner could possibly get a shot at Manny Pacquiao in the near future. Both Alvarado and Marquez are coming off of losses, but this is an excellent matchup.
Alvarado was stopped by Ruslan Provodnikov in the 10th round his last time out while Marquez lost a decision to Timothy Bradley. Marquez of Mexico City is 40 years old now, but he’s still an elite boxer. He’ll be entering the fight with a record of 55-7-1 with 40 Kos. The 33-year-old Alvarado of Denver, Colorado will climb through the ropes with a mark of 34-2 with 23 Kos to his name.
Alvarado has been in a few wars lately, including a couple against Brandon Rios, and it’s unclear how much they’ve taken out of him. The bout against Provodnikov was a prime example, but this guy has as much heart as anybody in the sport. He has a pretty good chin, and in a way that may have hurt him against Provodnikov since it means he took a lot of punishment while most boxers would have been stopped a lot earlier. It’ll be interesting to see exactly what he has left against the experienced Marquez, who’s also a hard hitter.
Marquez is no longer in his prime and when he does have a bad night he’s usually not in the fight at all. He can be outboxed, but as Manny Pacquiao can attest to, he’s never out of a fight since he can turn one around with a single knockout punch. It seems the best way to beat the Mexican Warrior is to utilize superior boxing skills, but Alvarado is more of a brawler than a boxer.
Marquez is an excellent counterpuncher and a guy like Alvarado could be just what he needs to get back on the winning track. Alvarado isn’t completely without boxing skills and that’s a good thing because he’s going to have to use them against Marquez. Alvarado will be the aggressor in this bout and he’s going to have to take advantage of his seven-year age advantage to make sure he takes as many rounds on points as possible.
Marquez can get frustrated if he doesn’t find any openings for counterpunches and this means Alvarado needs to be as busy as possible to keep his opponent on the back foot and defending as much as possible. If Marquez is busy ducking punches he’s not going to have much time to throw many of his own.
Prediction
This is one of the toughest fights to call in a long time since it’s easy to vision either one of these boxers winning it. Everything will depend on their tactics and who can pull off their game plan the best. It should be an intriguing fight with plenty of action. Marquez has much more experience and Alvarado is used to opponents who stand right in front of him. Still, this is a tossup, but let’s say Alvarado bounces back with a decision win here.
