2009 Superfights: Mayweather V Marquez

One of the biggest fights of the year saw the return of the man formerly known as "Pretty Boy Floyd" and currently "Money Mayweather" over 20 months after he had "retired" with the perfect record of 39(25)-0. His opponent was the highly ranked Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez who had taken Manny Pacquiao close twice as well as being in the form of his life stopping Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz in his previous two fights. News had broken that Floyd was in a bad financial predicament due to unpaid tax bills and car leases and needed a large pay day, others also felt that Floyd had gotten bitten by the boxing bug again and had become rather jealous of the adulation that was being given to Manny Pacquiao in his absence. Mayweather had retired as the mythical #1 in most peoples pound-for-pound rankings though had seen his position filled by Manny Pacquiao after his one sided beat down on Oscar De La Hoya. Marquez who had twice faced Pacquiao and run him close (losing 1 and drawing the other) was seen as the idea opponent for Mayweather's return.

The fight was between one of the best fighters at Welterweight (147lbs) and the best fighter at Lightweight (135lbs) so a decision was made in the contracts to fight it at a catch weight of 144lbs so that neither man had a significant advantage in weight. Marquez managed to make the weight (weighing 143lbs) whilst Mayweather had failed (weighing 2lbs over at 146). Marquez agreed to take the fight anyway with and additional $600,000 to his purse for agreeing to the fight. It had almost seemed that "Money Mayweather" hadn't even tried to make the weight, perhaps thinking that if he had he'd have given away the advantage of being the bigger man.

The fight was seen in some quarters as a good choice of opponent for a come back, a fight with someone who had tested Manny Pacquiao and pushed him close, a fighter who had beaten Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Diaz and Joel Casamayor in recent times and yet a naturally smaller and older man. In fact Marquez was seemingly performing better at an older age than he had done previously in his career, though the weight disparity made some feel it was going to be one sided with Floyd being able to finish the fight if he so pleased. The betting exchanges were giving 1.25 (for every 1 unit bet on you return 1.25 units) that Mayweather were going to win just prior to the fight, as people felt Mayweather was too big and too skilful for the brave Mexican warrior.

The fight started and it was immediately obvious that the break from the sport hadn't done Mayweather any harm at all, his boundless ability was on show right from the start. The usually clever counter punching Marquez had set out to be the offensive boxer but Mayweather seemed to be avoiding almost everything directed at him with relative ease, in fact he wasn't just making Marquez miss but he was landing hard single shot counters over and over. His reactions seemed to be the same as they always have been, almost instantaneous as he made Marquez look like a snail in comparison. Though Floyd at times seemed too happy to hide behind the effective shoulder roll defence he has utilised for years he was showing up the small man as being too slow and old. The second round saw Mayweather deck the game Marquez before he got back up and carried on. It looked from then on as though Floyd could stop him if he pressed for the stoppage, though he was too happy to land single shots in a defensive master-class. It was skilful though sadly rather dull and seemed to reserved against an opponent he looked around 2 weight divisions bigger than. The live betting had gone to 1.01 (for every unit you put on you get 1.01 units returned) as it was so obvious Marquez was being out classed.

At times it looked like every single Mayweather shot shook Marquez he sadly failed to follow up with combinations instead landing a single punch then getting away, you couldn't help but feel that if this had been the Floyd of 2002 then it would have been over well before it had gotten to the 12. The fight followed a similar pattern of Marquez throwing though being ineffective as the shoulder rolls neutralised his offence whilst at the same time he was being hit by single precise shots over and over by the negatively minded "Money" who looked as though he was happy to remain in 3^rd gear through out the fight.

The one sided affair saw Mayweather arguably winning every round en-route to what many scored a 120-107 victories, the judges seemed to give Marquez a round or two for the fact he was game and never gave up, but was completely out boxed in what appeared like a public sparring session for Mayweather. After the fight Sugar Shane Mosley stepped into the ring with associate Bernard Hopkins to call Mayweather out for a fight. Much like the fight it's self Mayweather dodged it, though this time it was less than skilful, telling the world it was down to Leonard Ellerbe to decide who he was fighting.

Neither fighter has fought since though rumours that Marquez may face Ricky Hatton in 2010 have started to circulate in what could well be both fighters final fight. Whilst Mayweather v Pacquiao seems to be the fight on every ones lips (despite the obvious difficulty in organising such a fight) to find out who really is currently the best fighter pound-for-pound. Whilst Mayweather ha beaten a significantly smaller fighter Pacquiao had decimated Ricky Hatton in his first super fight of the year then destroyed Miguel Cotto in the years biggest fight in a year that would suggest Pacquiao is king.