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Boxing fans have something to look forward to on October 12, at least if Juan Manuel Marquez is correct in his assessment of his HBO pay-per-view main event against Timothy Bradley. The 39-year-old Mexican superstar evoked the names of Leonard, Duran, Hagler, and Hearns when discussing the fight recently.
"It's going to be a great fight. A Duran-Leonard type fight like back in the day, where Leonard was very elusive and with speed and Duran was looking for the fight. It could be that type of fight so I expect a difficult fight. ... It's going to be a war. It's going to be an important, tough, difficult fight and the fans will see a great fight. They will relive fights like I told you like Duran-Leonard, Leonard-Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler-Leonard. It's a great combination for October 12th."
While this is probably leaping far past any realistic expectations -- because we're talking about some truly great fights here -- the idea that Bradley-Marquez will be a war gained some steam when Bradley went toe-to-toe with Ruslan Provodnikov in March, in what may be the best fight of the year to date. Marquez, as he has slowed down somewhat (and bulked up quite a bit), has become a fighter more willing to take risks and rely on his power and his chin to push him through, as well as his still-great counter-punching ability.
Will this be a Fight of the Year contender? Maybe, maybe not, but when the Bradley-Marquez idea first came up in 2012, I don't think the chances for a great fight seemed nearly as high as they do now. If Bradley comes out to once again please the fans, and Marquez is ready to brawl like he says he is, then we could have a really terrific fight on our hands.
What kind of fight are you expecting?