Travieso B. (Reseda, CA): Juan Manuel Marquez seems ready for his showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Do you like his chances of coming out on top in November when they meet?
Vivek W. (ESB): For starters, I have to disagree with you about him looking “ready” for their showdown. Most know that Marquez is one of my favorite fighters all-time, and I have the utmost respect for him as a perennial all-star in the sport. That being said, I simply don’t find his chances of defeating Pacquiao to be strong, and this past weekends performance was more of a joke than anything. When we look at his recent ring appearances, short of the Mayweather fight, all other talents he faced were good, but not great, yet they all made him look less-than-stellar for the most part.
Juan Diaz……Michael Katsidis…..both credible fighters, but nowhere near the level Marquez will face on the night of November 12th. You have to remember, in Pacquiao, you’re dealing with an elite level that only 2, maybe three men in the entire sport reside. I think the very attributes that made Marquez dangerous for Pacquiao before will be the ones that make him vulnerable this time around. Marquez likes to counter-punch and bang in the pocket. If that didn’t work for the much bigger and far more durable Antonio Margarito, I don’t see it being effective with Marquez.
The irony here is that the last two times these two men squared off, Marquez was able to buzz Pacquiao quite effectively. Now, fast forward a few years and after the countless wars, rather than being easily buzzed, Pacquiao has turned somewhat invincible against bigger punchers while Marquez has looked more shopworn like any other fighter who has battled on that level for so long. This reality is the planted seed of speculation that has set the sport on fire, and when the two meet again, it’ll be very intriguing to see how it all unfolds. We know that Marquez has looked more and more ordinary, and based on typical wear and tear, we know that the many wars Pacquiao has encountered could also begin to take a toll on him. But will it happen the evening of November 11th in Las Vegas? Conventional wisdom says that something has to give, but what? That’s the million dollar question.
At first glance, it seems Pacquiao should walk right through him, but what if Marquez is somehow able to make this a dogfight again? The ole “styles-make-fights” vernacular isn’t applicable at this stage in my humble opinion. If Marquez is even remotely close in this fight by the end of the night, I’m gonna really and truly wonder are we starting to see the end of Pacquiao as we know him? Yes, stylistically, these two men have been two pit-bulls locked into battle. But, no, this fight shouldn’t resemble the past at all because Pacquiao has gotten far better and Marquez has gotten worse. In the end I like Pacquiao by stoppage. Anything less will be more Pacquiao flaw than Marquez fury. No doubt.
Martin G. (Chicago, IL): What do you think about a matchup at this stage between Paul Williams and Kelly Pavlik and who do you think would win?
Vivek W. (ESB): Wow…..now that’s an interesting call. To be quite honest, I’m not too encouraged by what I see from either man right now and it’s no telling how that fight could turn out. I somewhat like Pavlik because of his power, but despite Pavlik not being KO’d like we saw Williams bite the dust recently, Pavlik’s downward spiral has been just as potent. One thing that comes to my mind immediately between the two is that Williams can still throw 1000 punches in a fight, and he has never failed to get the nod against a man not a southpaw. For those who forgot, Pavlik is orthodox, and that stance seems to put opponents right in harms way against someone like Williams.
I really think it’s an interesting fight to narrow down. Both men have just looked so bad lately that I personally wouldn’t care to see it, but being the huge fan of the sport I am, I’d watch, and end up mad as hell when it’s over because of how dull it could end up. Truthfully, I have no idea who wins this if it actually happens now. Everyone is pissed at Williams for getting his gift decision against Lara, but emotions aside, I can’t truthfully tell you that he’d lose to Pavlik at this stage. Pavlik has looked just as bad, he just hasn’t faced a power puncher who happened to land flush.
I’ve never flat out failed to answer a question in my mailbag, but today will be the first. I have no idea. And neither does anyone else out there who happens to think they do. Who wins? Whichever man wants it the most that night. You have one man who seems happier sippin’ away his stardom and another who isn’t intelligent enough to realize he keeps losing because he won’t gameplan for one particular punch (the left hand). Good luck trying to figure this one out! I can’t….and I’m not so sure I care to.
George M. (Norfolk, VA): What are your thoughts about the judges from the Williams/Lara fight being suspended?
Vivek W. (ESB): I was absolutely elated when I learned about the suspensions. I don’t wish bad luck or harm on any man, but I’ve always felt that these judges who make such horrible calls indirectly (or perhaps directly) impact certain fighters’ chance to feed their families, so in turn should have their abilities to earn money and feed their families affected. Guess I’m part of that “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” platform, but I just don’t believe in letting these guys harm a fighters career while moving forward with theirs.
If I’m a pilot and I can’t fly a plane, I don’t get a second chance. If I’m a starting quarterback and I perform bad, I get pulled. Any job, anywhere in the world comes with a set of consequences if you fail to perform. Somehow, in the sport of boxing these guys continue to make these head-scratching calls and just get recycled from one big fight to the next. These are men and women whose careers and the futures relative to them greatly depend on the fights they win and it’s only fair that they get the credit when they do so.
I was ecstatic when I saw action take place and I think you have to commend the 8CountNews,com staff for doing their due diligence and seeing to it that justice prevailed. I hope this was the first of many more judges to go down for this crap. This has to stop! It’s criminal, it’s malicious, and it should be handled with the same aggression as a felony offense in my book. Maybe then we can start to seeing the Glen Johnson’s of the world prosper, as they do deserve it.
Andres I. (Brooklyn, NYC): We had some great action across the pond this past weekend and I would like to know, when you look at guys like Fury, Chisora, Haye, Khan, and so forth, which British fighter do you think has the best shot at making it big in America?
Vivek W. (ESB): While I’ll clearly state that fighting in America seems to be most boxers dream around the world, I don’t think “making it big in America” is necessarily better than being the best abroad. To make a little more sense of that statement, there are certain fighters across the pond that I think are very skilled, yet the ones who have more fan favorite styles or the most controversy surrounding them will be the ones who probably get the invite first because the networks in America will pay to showcase them to the public first.
I think the Mitchell/Murray fight showcased great talent, I think Cleverly and Huck are talented fighters, I think Haye, Fury, Kell Brook and a few others from across the pond also have good talent. Now….does that mean that they aren’t or won’t ever be as good as Amir Khan who easily leads this class of fighters across the pond in American viewership? No. But currently it probably seems that way because Khan is trained by one of the best trainers in America and there’s a lot of controversy surrounding those who make up his team which the American networks have all chronicled.
At the end of the day, I don’t think the talent level of these men is based at on who can “make it big in America”. The initial gauge is always taking care of business at home. From there you move to someone elses backyard. Bottom line: Lets see which one of these guys rise to the top in their land, then we’ll see whether or not they’re even worthy to be discussed away from it. America isn’t the gauge of talent. It’s simply the stage in which most of the world around the sport watches it.
(Vivek “Vito” Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, 954.292.7346, Youtube (Vivek1251), Twitter (VivekWallace747), Skype (Vito-Boxing). and FaceBook).