I watched Marriaga vs Valdez, he gave him a hell of a fight, I have Valdez winning by 2 points, with the knockdown being decisive. Marriaga also gave Walters, that one who most experts considered a top 10 p4p, a tough one. People has double standarts, Marriaga would be considered a tough fight for anyone in the featherweight and super featherweight division, he would be Gervonta most difficult opponent right now, wich I doubt he would pass it, Gervonta would be praised for taking such a risky and low reward fight, but Loma its being criticised for taking this fight. This is one of the best available opponent for today, there will be time for Rigo, Berchelt and Garcia, but he needs to win this tonight, and even with Lona skill set it wont be an easy night
As much as I agree Marriaga is underrated and a good fighter, I would be very disappointed in Loma if he couldn't toy with Marriaga. We'll see a stoppage but I respect Marriaga for being a real fighter and not a cherrypicker himself.
Marriaga will end up as one of these guys who were better than a lot of world champions, but never won a title.
Marriaga gives a lot of guys hard fights. Loma is still going to win but Marriaga will have some moments.
100% agree, these guys were saying valdez destroy him what fight were they watching? Outside of the KD marriaga was giving valdez a very hard time.
Thats one of the reasons why he is underrated, he dont have any big win against a top opponent on his resume, he lost close 2 fights vs elite opponents. Wilder, Verdejo, Gervonta, Hughie Fury...they are good boxers even if they dont have wins against the top of his weight
Considering the other belt holders said no and the B.S. Rigo and Salido pulled, I am glad they could salvage this fight date with an opponent such as Marriaga.
People forget that Nicholas Walters missed weight for the Marriaga fight and he weighed 145 in the ring compared to Marriaga's 135. That's a lot of weight to be giving away for little guys and when you're facing a big, strong dangerous puncher like Walters. Marriaga acquitted himself well in that fight and IIRC he even hurt Walters at one point too.
