After a fairly quiet summer on the blogging front - ok I'll admit it, I got distracted by another sport where the only gloves on show are worn by goalkeepers - big time boxing makes a come back tonight in Las Vegas.
Juan Manual Marquez's 2009 encounter with Juan 'El Torito' Diaz was an almighty bust-up rightly named 'Fight of the Year' by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Marquez eventually triumphed in the ninth round but only after some barely believable exchanges which left both men bruised and bloodied.
It's not surprising then that fight fans all over the world are looking forward to their re-match tonight. But after the all-out-war they gave us in the first fight it's hard to see how tonight's match-up can be anything other than a disappointment. I hope I'm wrong and given their contrasting styles - Marquez more of a counter-puncher, Diaz doesn't have a reverse gear - there's every chance we could have another classic on our hands. Marquez was well beaten by Mayweather in his last outing, but there's no disgrace in that, while Diaz lost his recent re-match to Paulie Malignaggi. Enough said. Marquez has to be preferred and Sporting Bet's 2-1 that he wins in rounds 7-12 offers the best value.
An interesting sub-plot of this fight for British fans is that if Juan Manual Marquez wins he is very likely to be Amir Khan's next opponent at light-welterweight.
Tonight's fight also marks a major milestone for me personally in that for the first time ever I will be able to watch it legally, in my own home, on Sky Sports. Thanks to BT Vision's deal with Sky I no longer have to stay up late, trawling the internet to find an illegal stream with Chinese commentary or have to wait until someone loads it onto YouTube the next day. Thank you BT.
No comments:
Post a Comment