Érik Morales vs. Juan Manuel Márquez

For me the best Erik Morales was the 97-99 version. 122lb version. Tho MAB might of deserved their 1rst epic clash, Morales wasn't at his best and it's obvious as he moved up to 126 after that classic fight. The mini fab 4 would all give anyone in history a run for their money 130lbs on down, including Mayweather. Regarding Marquez, 126 he was at his best, the Norwood and John fights were robberies and really should be counted as wins. Slightest of edges to Morales at 122-126,130-up, Marquez humbles El Terrible.

 

Interesting. I always thought Morales peaked at 126 pounds. To me he looked fresh at the weight but had become a better technical fighter than he was in the late 90s.

 

I'm not posting this to induce a flame war but general consensus is that Marquez started juicing after the fatquez version of himself against Mayweather.

Could explain his surge in power and size at such a late age.

 

Among whom?

 

This "surge in power" theory to try and explain KTFO6 is so laughable
.

 

Personally, I think that there's really only a certain pocket within the listed epochs where I would favour Morales over Marquez. That pocket of time exists from the time that Erik faced MAB in the rematch to the time he faced Barerra in the rubber match.

Following the first fight with Barrera, Morales seemed a bit shop-worn and struggled badly with Espadas and, to a lesser extant, against Chi. So, in thinking about a hypothetical match-up with Marquez, I could see him struggling to find his groove against an opponent who has a stylistic advantage and who would by hyper-motivated to succeed following his disputed decision loss to Norwood.

But ,the Morales who fought with more confidence against Barerra in the second fight (earning it on my card) might be a more difficult proposition for Marquez. The fighter who parlayed that confidence into stellar performances against Ayala, Espadas Jr. the second time around and then up at 130 against Famaso and Jesus Chavez seemed a bit more capable of establishing range against the opponents he faced during that time period. And, he seemed to be setting down on his punches more at that point, too. I don't see Marquez having quite as much success against Morales at that point.

But, after the rubber match against Barrera, Morales wasn't the same fighter. He was still good enough to overcome the less refined Pacquiao in the first fight, but from that point on he was running on fumes, and the subsequent losses to Raheem and Pacquiao didn't help his cause one bit. If Marquez faces Morales at this point, he would likely be a clear favourite.

As for Morales-Marquez in 2011...I think Morales might have his moments, but Marquez probably wasn't going to allow EM to get one final shot at Pacquiao before he had finished with him. Clear victory for the less shop-worn fighter.

 

Marquez might be the best of the Mexican trio. Morales just had the better chin but then again Marquez doesn't do too well against conventional boxers. He does well against Pacquiao. He is a Pacquiao specialist.But he might have figured Morales and beat him.Morales was tough and game but he probably can't hang with Marquez's skillz.

 

Morales hung with Barrera who is more skilled than Marquez.

 

You don't know what true skill is.
Jab and lateral is one skillset. If you're not as quick with your feet or as quick on the trigger, there's not much you can do with that skillset, its why Manny Pacquiao demolished Marco Antonio Barrera.
All Manny did was defend the left hand, taking it completely away and rendering the greatly skilled MAB useless.

Juan Manuel Marquez isn't nearly as skilled, which is why he managed to dominate the quicker, faster, and more powerful Manny Pacquiao.
Wonder how he managed to do that with less of a skillset at his disposal?

Takes less skill to beat great speed demons, I guess! :nut

 

Marquez didn't dominate Pacquiao. He kept taking losses. Now I know they were close, but a loss is a loss. A domination is a Pacquiao-Barrera style demolition, that's called dominating. Marquez fared better than Barrera against Pac, but not because he was more skilled.

Marquez is bigger, stronger, tougher than Barrera. He was able to better withstand the energizer bunnyness and speed and power combo of Pacquiao. Barrera just couldn't handle the physicality of Pacquiao. Barrera's disaster against Pacquiao had nothing to do with lack of skill. Hell he was more skilled than Pacquiao. He just couldn't cope with the aggression.

The same reason that Marquez fared better than Barrera against Pacquiao is the same reason Morales fared the best. Morales was even bigger, stronger and tougher than Marquez.

 

Eric Morales never wanted any parts of Marquez, and Barrera only fought JMM after he thought that JMM was old. Pac couldn't beat a prime Morales or JMM. He would always give MAB problems.