The Boxing Truth®

There is no doubt that Juan Manuel Marquez is destined to enter any Hall of Fame associated with the sport of Boxing when his illustrious career reaches it’s conclusion. Marquez has been an elite pound for pound fighter for many years.  Although a highly skilled boxer, Marquez has been more than willing to mix it up and go toe to toe with his opponents throughout his career. Marquez’ willingness to engage in some of the sport’s more memorable battles has rightfully earned him recognition as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. Coming off of a narrow decision loss in his last fight to then WBO Welterweight world champion Timothy Bradley last October, Marquez returned to the ring to face former WBO Jr. Welterweight world champion Mike Alvarado on May 17th at The Forum in Inglewood, California. In the lead up to this fight I stated that Marquez-Alvarado had the ingredients to be exciting on paper. This fight could be described as both a demonstration of o...

When Juan Manuel Marquez entered the ring last October to challenge Timothy Bradley for the WBO world Welterweight championship he was clearly at a career-high having scored a thrilling one punch knockout over his archrival Manny Pacquiao in their epic fourth encounter. Bradley however, would earn a hard-fought split decision over Marquez to retain his title in a fight where a legitimate argument could be made for either fighter being the victor. In many ways Marquez’ loss to Bradley was not all that unlike some of Marquez’ previous setbacks, most notably against Manny Pacquiao in three of their four fights. Closely fought battles where neither fighter is able to stand out clearly from the other. It is certainly understandable how losing close decisions can leave a bad taste in the mouth of a fighter. Readers will recall that I scored the Bradley-Marquez fight a draw. I did however, state after the fight that Marquez was clearly not disgraced in the fight with Bradley...

When Heavyweight contenders Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola entered the ring for their rematch on Saturday night in Los Angeles, the Boxing world focused its attention on a fight between two knockout punchers where anything could happen. A small 17 by 17 foot ring would present an ideal setting for a shootout. Along with the historical significance that this fight brought with it in either the first Haitian or Mexican-American World Heavyweight champion to be crowned by winning a vacant world title, the question of who would succeed Vitali Klitschko as WBC champion would also be answered. As is often the case when two fighters meet for a vacant world championship following a dominant champion relinquishing his title, some are likely to question and or discredit the validity of the contest being a “Real” championship fight. What made this championship fight somewhat different is the fact that although Vitali Klitschko has been a dominant champion, he was one half of...

Following a workman like performance by unified IBF/WBO/WBA/IBO Heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko in his fifth round knockout win over a “Game”, but over matched Alex Leapai on April 26th, the Boxing world once again prepares to focus it’s attention on a World Heavyweight championship fight.   For the first time since 2008 however, a contest for a version of the Heavyweight championship of the world will not involve a man named Klitschko. Top Heavyweight contenders Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola will meet in a rematch. This time the prize is not an opportunity to fight for a world championship, but rather the winner of the rematch will become the WBC world champion.     When Stiverne and Arreola first met in April of last year, it was to determine who would be the next challenger for long reigning WBC champion Vitali Klitschko. In that fight, Stiverne scored a knockdown of Arreola in round three and outworked him over twelve rounds to ear...