How well does Saldivar do against the highly underrated slick technician in Marcel, the same Marcel who completely outboxed an up and coming Alexis Arguello and held his own against a young Duran? Does Saldivar do just enough to beat Marcel in a close fight much like he did against Ismael Laguna?
If it’s a 10 rounder, Marcel probably gets the better of him, as a young Laguna arguably did. Over 15 it’s a much tougher task for him. I’ll side with Saldivar.
Bump I think this would be the kind of match up where Marcel can give Saldivar a lot of trouble with his slippery movement and quick combinations. I feel this can can go either way.
Saldivar for whatever reason did very well vs stylist. I think his strength and southpaw stance carries him to a decision win.
The reason Saldivar does well with stylists is he is a stylist. And he's elite. Marcel is indeed underrated - off this board. Not on it. Saldivar is out of his class. Wideish UD.
One common opponent that both faced was Kuniaki Shibata who was also a very good fighter in his own right and managed to dethrone Saldivar. Shibata would later face Marcel which would end in a controversial draw with most believing that Marcel should have won. I don't doubt Saldivar's chances against Marcel and I can see him figuring out how to close in on Marcel's fleet footwork but Marcel is a fighter that's shown to be a brilliant stylist that could give a lot of Featherweights a tough night.
Ernesto Marcel is a very overlooked fighter and I don't think he can be fully counted out against any great featherweight. He was crafty, slick, and had a wonderful knack of finding defensive holes through which to land his precise punches. Marcel's footwork, use of angles, punch selection and placement were all top-notch. Saldivar quite likely would have outpointed him but it would have been a very tough night out for El Zurdo.
Saldivar was the greater fighter in terms of accomplishment no doubt and a pure boxer hunter of the highest order, with the Winstone, Laguna, Fammo and Legra fights perhaps not looking favourable on the surface for Marcel but I'm not sure it's that simple. It's not as though Saldivar completely ran over them all other than the third Winstone fight and the last third of the first two when Winstone's lack of power and true evasiveness allowed Saldivar to build up a head of steam. The Laguna and Famechon fights were very close and the Legra fight competitive with Saldivar being stung and sat on his arse as in the first Seki fight. Granted though, the Legra and Famechin fights took place after he'd lost a clear step. Marcel for all his bouncy movement, shifts and pivots wasn't a safety-first pure boxing matador like Famechon or a standup one handed cushion fist struggling to ditch quality straight punches like Winstone. He had some similarities with Laguna and Legra but was imo more of the Luis Rodriguez mould, though a bit less herky jerky and ungainly. Hyper mobile and rhythm breaking but always slipping, leading or countering and throwing a very high volume of punches with both hands for 15 rounds, with real spite and not only headhunting either. Able to mix and transition very cleanly between fluid textbook combos and more eclectic, unpredictable ones while not needing to be set. That was where Laguna had success imo, and Marcel had imo a better left hook than Ismael. Less cuffing and slappy. His lead right was a fast, accurate, cumulatively heavy punch thrown with real accuracy and intent (a real potential weapon against a southpaw), and he was an excellent infighter and body puncher. He had very respectable pop in his shots and wouldn't I don't think be looking to merely trying to outslick or outbox Saldivar behind his jab. Shibata (early rounds chinniness aside) was of a similar ilk to Saldivar in that he gradually built up steam over the rounds and was very hard to derail once he settled in, so Marcel pummelled him early and never allowed him to bed in. He did the same to a point against Arguello early on our and it helped in the long run to take the steam out of Arguello in the championship rounds, though granted Marcel lost some ground in the mid rounds of that fight. Something tells me that he'd be trying to push Saldivar backwards while simultaneously breaking up his offensive rhythm, where he was less effective and his short stature a hindrance. The way he could quickly shift direction on the balls of his feet while punching would be ideal for switching inside Saldivars lead hand to catch him square on and then jab or counter hook, just as much as him slipping to the other side and lashing right hands over the top. Obviously Saldivar brings a **** load to the table himself and was immensely skilled while being a physical mini-Marcianoesque unit. He has plenty himself to make life very hard for Marcel. I don't know that I'd make him the favourite here though. It's one the great mythical fights at feather to dwell on.
