Weekend Previews and Predictions – Marquez and Cleverly

By Niall Doran

There is some intriguing action taking place this weekend both in the States and on our side of the pond but this weekend I’m going to focus on the two biggest fights and bouts that are happening and fights that I certainly I am looking forward to:

Juan Manuel Marquez vs Mike Alvarado

Tear up. That’s what springs to mind straight away for me here. A genuine 50/50 between two Mexican warriors could really translate into some tangible carnage this weekend in California. Both men have something to prove too coming off losses, Marquez to Bradley and Alvarado to Provodnikov, which could make this weekend’s bout all the more explosive.

Stylistically you’d have to say Marquez is the better boxer technique-wise but on the other hand could we finally see father time catching up with Juan Manuel who gives away 7 years in youth to the 33 year old Alvarado? I think he’s got one last real gem of a performance in him to be honest and Alvarado who likes to come forward (and who has been stopped twice before) could walk onto some of those trade mark combinations that Marquez is famed for.

My prediction – Marquez inside the distance in a potential fight of the year candidate

Nathan Cleverly vs Sean Corbin

Former WBO light heavyweight champion of the world Nathan Cleverly makes his cruiserweight debut this weekend having not boxed since the first loss of his career when he was knocked out by Sergey Kovalev last August. I’ve been watching a few interviews from him lately and he seems in a very good place mentally again and just needed a bit of a break from the sport to recharge the old batteries after the Kovalev battering. However my one concern for him at this division is that he isn’t a particuarly big cruiser nor is he a huge puncher.

But then again you never know, he could be much stronger at this weight and I believe he has been working on sitting down on his shots a lot more. I do know that it has been a struggle to put on muscle and weight to get up to the cruiser weight limit but he is expected on the night to make the limit.

His opponent Sean Corbin is a solid crusierweight unit but out of the four losses on his record he has been stopped on each occasion. Although Clev might not be famed for one punch, massive KO power, I’d be looking for him to get rid of Corbin inside the distance.

My prediction – Cleverly inside 7

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