Juan Manuel Marquez gave his take on the upcoming welterweight title showdown between compatriot Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Like boxing icon Oscar De La Hoya and renown trainer Nacho Beristain, Marquez is also aching to see a Mexican hand Mayweather the first defeat of his boxing career, but the Mexican warrior doesn't see it happening.
The 40-year-old Mexican pointed out that Mayweather's defense is the best in the business and undefeated American's elusiveness will be a vital factor in the scheduled 12-round title showdown.
"Defensively speaking, Mayweather is the best. He makes it very difficult to land your punches, he is very elusive. You start to get desperate and he leverages this desperation to connect his counters," Marquez said in an interview with Boxingscene.
Marquez also mentioned the recent upset victories in boxing like Johnny Gonzales' victory over Abner Mares. The Mexico City native said that anything can happen in a boxing match, but he doesn't see his compatriot winning against Mayweather at this point in their respective careers.
"Canelo is not going to be any exception. Anything can happen above the ring. We already saw this with Jhonny vs Abner Mares, where nobody expected Jhonny to win. We hope the Mexican fighter can win. He needs a little bit more of experience. He has the opportunity to show that he is a great boxer. I can tell you that upsets are sparse and based on that I don't think Canelo can get the upset," Marquez added.
Marquez, who is coming from an upset sixth-round knockout win against rival Manny Pacquiao in December last year, once tried to put a blemish on Mayweather's record, but he failed four years ago.
Marquez moved up two weight classes to face Mayweather in September 2009, but he was badly dominated by Mayweather, who ran away with a lopsided unanimous decision victory.
Marquez's trainer, Nacho Beristain, previously said that while he believes a Canelo win will be huge for Mexican boxing, Mayweather is too smart and too intelligent for a young fighter like Alvarez.
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