Monzon v Napoles/Griffin - Mayweather v Marquez

You're overlooking that Griffith was an ex-champ at middleweight and still well-established as a top contender there. Conversely, Marquez had never fought above 135 and thus had no credentials there, or frankly any business being there.

And I don't agree size wasn't a key factor in the fight. Part of Marquez's problem was that even when he did connect with punches, they didn't carry enough force at that weight to bother the bigger man.

 

Size was just one of the disadvantages Marquez had to contend with...He was in with a guy who even if he was the same size would have likely won just as clearly.

I dont rate it as his best win and it doesnt hold as much weight for me as it does for others (much like the Napoles win for Monzon)...Almost everything that happened in that fight was expected for me, and I think most people knew thats what was going to happen...I did think it would be a tad more competitive overall but I was fairly certain Marquez would barely win more then a couple of rounds at best.

Griffith came very close to beating Monzon in the rematch IMO aswell...Emile was well and truly proven at middleweight.

 

Not only was Griffith a very good middleweight but he was a great welterweight, as was Napoles.

Marquez was an average lightweight, despite the hype he received for beating the ghost of Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz.

An average lightweight stepping up to welterweight has ownage written all over it.

Floyd would still have beaten Marquez easy even if they were both 130 pounders, but at welterweight it was Floyd's easiest fight, which is saying something considering the subpar opponents he's trotted out at the weight.

 

Marquez is not even a top 20 welterweight at this point in time. So no, I don't think it's an amazing win. I aso suspect Mayweather could have finished him earlier but declined to press the advantage.

 

Yeah, maybe 'VERY average' is a better description :good

 

He beat a shot Casamayor and an overrated Juan Diaz in tit for tat bouts that played out as wars of attrition rather than bouts involving varied boxing skill. What level LW does that qualify him as in your eyes? Certainly nowhere near the level Griffith was as a MW, much less a WW.

The Napoles comparison is not a bad one though. The difference is, Monzon took care of a much more determined Napoles (in comparison to the way Marquez fought) like he was supposed to, in devastating fashion. Mayweather tip-toed around a completely overmatched opponent in one off those most unnecessarily lackluster fights in recent memory. Floyd is no all time great. He's just a very, very good fighter who happened to come around in the perfect era and catch all the right breaks due to his management and mouth.

 

Even the Napoles analogy fails because Napoles was coming off 6 years of DOMINATION of a GOOD welterweight division when he challenged Monzon.

Marquez came off two tit for tat wars as Sweet Pea said, and he looked totally average in those fights. If Casamayor wasn't shot he was damn near close to it, he had already lost to Santa Cruz and probably should have been disposed of by Katsidis before he was bailed out with a punch totally against the trend of the fight. Juan Diaz is a guy with a high workrate but little else.

Marquez struggling with these guys does not make him anywhere NEAR as a lightweight to the welterweight Napoles was.

 

Great posts. :good

 

Angelo Dundee, who trained Napoles, was SURE that his man would beat Monzon. It frankly amazed Angie how thoroughly and easily Monzon beat him. He called Monzon a "super-champion" after the fight.

 

Before the Monzon fight Napoles not only was riding the crest of his wave as ruler of the welterweights, but he dominated that division WITH A VENGENCE...brutally disposing of guys like Ernie Lopez and Adolph Pruitt and utterly vanquishing them in impressive performances.

 

Yes he was, or at least very close to it. His fight with SantaCruz made that very plain.

Being The Ring champion doesn't have anything to do with his form. He was still the Ring champ simply because he hadn't officially lost since becoming the champ - though he really should've lost to SantaCruz.