Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz 2 Produces Another Fight Of The Year

Anyone who saw the HBO pay-per-view rematch of Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz saw a good fight. Was it as good as the first one? No.

Will it win Fight of the Year? Not a chance it will repeat as fight of the year.

So how did last night produce a Fight of the Year candidate? It saw Marquez win which means he is in line to fight Michael Katsidis.

At this point Marquez doesn’t have many options and two of the options he has aren’t very good at all. It appears he has four options at this point.

It appears he will fight Amir Khan, Erik Morales, Ricky Hatton, or Katsidis later this year or earlier next year.

Morales and Hatton are two fights that people probably aren’t interested in. Morales is younger than Marquez but is totally shot and would get run over at this point.

This could happen solely due to the interest in Mexico. It could go on a lower tier P.P.V. and make some money in Mexico.

Hatton is retired and running his own promotional firm. Again this could be a stadium fight in Manchester that could make some money.

We then move onto a potential fight with Khan. This is the first fight that seems like it is a real possibility.

Both fighters are promoted by Golden Boy so getting a deal done would be very easy. This fight would make money in both the U.S. and U.K.

This fight would be at 140 pounds and would obviously be for Khan’s title. This would give Marquez the opportunity to win a title in yet another weight and take out one of the best young fighters today.

This fight could end up being a rout, though. Khan is bigger, younger, and has the fastest hands in boxing today, if you ask me.

It could be a good fight because Khan has a suspect chin and Marquez throws punches with evil intent. It brings us to the last potential fight Marquez can make, Michael Katsidis.

This is the fight I hope and pray can be made. It is at the optimal weight for Marquez at 135.

Katsidis is the best fighter at lightweight outside of Marquez. He is an all action fighter who comes forward and has big power.

Marquez would have the edge in speed and like stated before he tries to knock you out with every punch. These two fighters would meet in the center of the ring and go for the knockout.

The fact that Marquez is 36 and slowing down would make this fight even better. If this was fought three or four years ago Marquez would win easily because of his technical advantage.

Getting older has made him adapt and he is a more offensive fighter because of it. His defense is much worse and although he would be faster he isn’t as fast.

Katsidis looked great in his last fight, blowing out previously undefeated Kevin Mitchell. He has looked very good since losing to Juan Diaz (a fight in which he had a terrible game plan).

Last night may not have been the Fight of the Year but it may have been the first step to one.