Is Ernesto Marcel a better fighter than Pac, MAB, JMM and EM?

I actually think the stoppage against Duran was unjust. Sure he'd taken a lot of shots going into the final rounds, but didn't appear to be in huge trouble when the fight was stopped....the ref just broke it up and waved it off.

 

Nice to see Marcel`s name get a mention, he is one of my favourites and I love watching this guy, he had such a smooth and relaxed fighting style in the ring. Ernesto is the only Panamanian fighter to retire as an undefeated champ, and he did in style as well by clearly beating a young, up and coming Alexis Arguello in his last fight.

He had a beautiful style that combined superb defensive and offensive skills, and he also had excellent balance and a very fluid slip and countering ability. He employed a lot of lateral movement as well and was always on the move, he never stayed too long in the same spot. Flyweight Fidel Bassa is the only other fighter that I`ve seen who managed to master that style, unfortunately his career was cut short due to a detached retina and he had a terrible chin.

A lot of people don`t know this but he really started as a basketball player, and was supposed to make the Panamanian National team, but his coach cut him because according to the coach he was too small in height for basketball. So after that, to represent Panama in some kind of sport, he took boxing. He did pretty good for a basketball player if I may say so. And since it has been brought up I`ll answer those folks who inquired as to why his bout with Draun was stopped and why he chose to quit the ring after the Arguello fight.

In the Duran fight apparently referee Isaac Herrera stopped the bout because accodring to him Marcel had barely thrown a punch the entire round and was doing nothing but backtracking, thus Herrera ruled Duran the winner by TKO due to Ernesto`s inactivity with less than ten seconds left in the final round. As for the retirement after the Arguello fight Marcel had already made up his mind before the bout that it would be his last, and the reason for his retirement according to him was that he wasn`t making enough money from fighting and wanted to devote his time to other endeavours.

He also said that he was tired of the rigorous training and dedication required to stay on top and even though he knew he could have kept on fighting with success for several more years, his heart wasn`t in it anymore. As for how Ernesto would have fared against today`s fab four I`d have made him a heavy favourite over Morales and Pacquiao, and certainly would have pegged him to beat MAB and JMM as well, although these two would give him more problems due to styles and the fights would be clsoer on the cards as a result.

 

Top post as usual raging..very interesting stuff.

 

Thanks.

 

Glad to hear your enjoying the fights mate. Marcel sure is a fun guy to watch ply his craft, in fact as Mantequilla pointed out most of the top Panamanian boxers throughout history have had a very pleasant style of boxing to watch, and Ernesto is right at the top of that list for me as far as the stylists are concerned.

 

Whilst we are on the topic how does a fight between Pedroza and Marcel play out?

 

I think Pedroza would take a very close decision, he'd foul and rough Marcel up and stunt his workrate.

Raging, great post my friend :good

 

My reply was, "I think Marcel takes the decision, but just barely". So I think we're on the same page that a fight between Marcel and Pedroza is a squeaker.

Scartissue