Mayweather pummels Marquez in ring return
LAS VEGAS (AP)—Money came back with a guarantee. Floyd Mayweather Jr. told the world he was still its best boxer despite taking 21 months off, and he backed up every boast with every jab in an impressive victory.
Although next time out, hopefully he’ll pick on somebody his own size.
Mayweather overpowered the smaller, lighter Juan Manuel Marquez for an unanimous decision Saturday night, maintaining his perfect record in his comeback from retirement.
Mayweather knocked down Marquez in the second round and then peppered him with countless damaging shots to remain unbeaten (40-0, 25 KOs). Still, his impressive effort couldn’t be viewed without weighing the obvious disadvantages in height and strength faced by the talented Marquez, a 130-pounder just 18 months ago who moved up two weight classes for this once-in-a-career payday at the MGM Grand Garden.
“Marquez is tough as nails,” Mayweather said. “He’s a great little man. He was really hard to fight, and he kept taking some unbelievable shots.”
At Friday’s weigh-in, Marquez (50-5-1) was four pounds lighter than Mayweather, who paid a $600,000 penalty for missing the bout weight of 144 pounds. Simple physics took over from there. Though Marquez stayed on his feet for 12 one-sided rounds, Money Mayweather’s win was never in doubt.
“He’s a great small man,” Mayweather said. “Don’t forget, I came from a small weight class too, so I know when you’re in front of a great fighter. I think he brought his best tonight.”
Mayweather had an astonishing edge in punch stats, landing 290 of his 493 blows (59 percent) while allowing just 12 percent of Marquez’s 583 punches to land. Mayweather landed more jabs in each round than Marquez landed total punches, and just 16 percent of Marquez’s power shots even got to Mayweather.
Mayweather often appeared to be toying with Marquez, who’s generally considered among the world’s top handful of fighters. Just 18 months ago, Marquez lost a narrow decision to unofficial pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao—another mighty mite who’s likely Mayweather’s top choice for his next bout.
Pacquiao accepted a similarly mismatched challenge last year when he demolished Oscar De La Hoya, but the Golden Boy acknowledges his skills have diminished. Mayweather clearly is still at the top of his game.
“I’ve been off for two years, so I felt like it took me a couple of rounds to really know I was back in the ring again,” Mayweather said. “I know I’ll get better.”
Mayweather dominated his undersized Mexican opponent in his first fight since stopping Ricky Hatton in December 2007. He then took a lengthy break from the sport that’s dominated his life since he was a toddler, but returned for another eight-figure payday that should assuage the IRS while setting up another megafight.
Mayweather refused to re-weigh himself Saturday night, so the true size of his advantage might never be known. Fighters often gain several pounds between the weigh-in and their bouts.
But his size advantage was obvious from the opening bell, when it became clear Marquez would struggle just to get close enough to throw good combinations.
“He surprised me with the first knockdown,” Marquez said. “He hurt me in that round, but not any other time. I don’t want to make any excuses, but the weight was the problem. He’s too fast.”
Judge Burt Clements gave every round to Mayweather, 120-107. Dave Moretti threw the eighth round to Marquez for a 119-108 total, while William Lerch gave two rounds to Marquez, 118-109. The Associated Press had a whitewash, 120-107.
Mayweather abruptly knocked down Marquez midway through the second round when Marquez walked into a left hook, but Mayweather largely stuck to his jab, leaned back in his familiar defensive posture and picked apart another opponent.
Marquez had a bloody nose by the bout’s midway point, and Mayweather landed several hard shots late in the sixth. Whenever Marquez appeared to land a combination, Mayweather invariably backed away with a grin.
“When I hit him, he laughed, but I knew he felt my punches,” Marquez said. “We tried to work the speed, but the difference was the weight.”
Marquez added a brave defeat to a career noted for its disappointments as much as its triumphs. Marquez still seethes over his 0-1-1 record in two fights against Pacquiao, and he followed Pacquiao’s path up in weight in search of bigger bouts, which he got in recent wins over Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz.
Mayweather chose Marquez for his return bout after flirting with Pacquiao, who will fight Miguel Cotto in the same arena less than two months from now.
A Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would be the biggest in the sport, but a more natural opponent also wants a little Money. Sugar Shane Mosley called out Mayweather in the ring immediately after the fight, with Golden Boy representatives forced to separate the two.
The lukewarm public response to the bout underlined industry concerns Mayweather can’t sell a pay-per-view on his own. The Grand Garden wasn’t sold out just a few days before the fight, and large swaths of empty seats greeted the undercard fighters, though they were mostly filled before Mayweather entered the ring.
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Boxing is allegedly a fighting sport; and it truly was when the awesome likes of Tyson, Marciano, et al stepped into the ring; yes, they actually fought and Tyson even turned boxing upside down for a while, single-handedly making the PPV worth more than the money we paid for it. However, when it comes to determining the winner of a boxing bout, we mere mortals are ill-equipped and must be enlightened by super-seers (judges) who, ostensibly via some form of mysticism, divine who the true winner is (except in ridiculous mismatches like Mayweather-Marquez; {Gee, I was truly amazed that Mouthrunner was able to defeat such a “formidable opponent” so handily; Marquez was, after all, much older and consequently, thicker around the waist, slower, smaller, etc.}) In MMA, this problem is much more rare as the winner is usually the guy standing over the guy who is prostrate or supine, unconscious and whose face has been bloodied thus eliminating the need for a 3rd party dork to tell us who won.
We need only examine the Mayweather-Marquez fight to find more evidence of boxing’s ridiculousness. Though Mouthrunner clearly won the fight, he was not the winner of the first round. The problem is: neither was Marquez; neither barely laid a glove on the other though plainly Mouthrunner’s dancing was far better. However, apparently boxing is just as unprepared as I’d mentioned to declare a draw; to admit that neither participant won; even if it’s only a round at issue and not an entire fight. I watched both events; the boxing match and the MMA fights, with several other spectators. For those of us who love fighting, there was no comparison. The Mayweather-Marquez fight was the clichéd “yawnfest” whereas the UFC event was electrifying even though it was a relatively weak card. Sadly, we can easily find more fighting in the average NHL game than in a modern boxing match; even when one of the opponents is the “pound-for-pound king”. Chuck Liddell on Dancing with the Stars?! Hell, Mouthrunner has been doing it for years.
Floyd beats Marquez, a pile of other bums and gets a gift in the De la Hoya fight which was plainly a draw (but that's another story). How is it that Marciano's annihilation of Joe Louis is explained by Louis' “advanced”age (37) but at age 36, Mayweather's joke-of-a-fight versus Marquez is completely legitimate?! When Mouthrunner fights a real opponent and wins convincingly and not because corrupt judges in a sport know for corruption say he won in order to protect the sport's last big draw, then he would likely earn the respect he craves but doesn't yet have.
And how good can Pacquiao be given that he drew and lost to Marquez (though, not surprisingly, he is the official winner of their rematch). Of course, Mayrunner would win a match with him. Also, when will Mouthrunner fight someone who is in his own weight class? Isn’t that the purpose of the classes---to have fights between opponents who are relatively the same size? Both Hatton and Marquez are significantly smaller than Mayrunner. Finally, to the guy who pointed out that Marquez lost due to head movement, footwork etc.---thanks for reinforcing my point---too bad you didn’t get it. All of those factors are the result of Marquez being slower which is primarily due to his advanced age (in boxing). The bottom line is that boxing is quasi-fighting; it is not nearly fighting in the way that MMA is. Comparing Tyson in his prime to boxers now or comparing MMA to boxing is like watching tv on a 56" screen in color and HD instead of in black and white and analog on a 19" screen. Mouthrunner claims he’d defeat ANY MMA fighter in an MMA match. If that doesn’t prove he’s so full of himself that he’s delusional, I don’t know what does. First, no governing organization would even sanction a fight between him and Lyoto Machida, for example. Furthermore, BJ Penn, a fighter who is Mayrunner’s size, would absolutely demolish him; but we’ll never get to enjoy that moment even if Mayweather were paid his usual fight prize ‘cause he knows what the embarrassing result would be. And "pretty"?! I'm not gay nor am I female so I'll leave that to you "experts" who keep calling him that. We obviously have very different ideas about what “pretty” is. “Pretty” for me is: #1: a woman and #2: one who looks something like Beyonce or Angie Everhart or Arianny Celeste or Kim Kardashian or Shakira or Thaysa Silva or Maria Sharapova or Julie Banderas or Tyra Banks or Eva Mendes or Giselle Bundchen or Jessica Alba or Laetitia Casta or Maria Cucinota many others. But hey---if Floyd Maywether is pretty to you---there are plenty of pictures of him all over the Internet and he’s usually only in boxing trunks so---wear yourself out…I guess.
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anyway manny will enter politics by may 2010. so if the weather goes fine he might win in the election.
so its a pacquiao money-may-weather fight.
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It can't be both ways. If Floyd is to big for Pac Man and Marquez, then Paul is too big for Floyd. I like Floyds style in and out of the ring. He walks it how he talks it. But, if people just don't like Floyd as a person it's cool. If people think he is an a$$hole, that's FINE. But like it or not he is 40-0. With some reputable names on his list. Make any reason you want for it, he is still 40-0 and counting. None of these people that the Floyd bashers are naming is capable of that type of record.
ON ANOTHER NOTE..... Floyd started out winning his first belt as a super featherweight. All of the real boxing fans understand how hard it is to keep going up in weight and winning (if so called cherry picking was easy everyone would do it). He has captured a belt at every weight class between super featherweight and super welterweight. You tell me another NON-GREAT that has been able to do it. Floyd surely is not the only NON-GREAT to do such a thing. Or maybe, just maybe he is one of the GREATS that did
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"Ya'll don't know sh*t about boxing...."
Roger Mayweather
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