General

Juan Manuel Marquez Might Secretly Be Batman

Sep 15, 2009, 5:55 PM UTC

The Rumbleâ†µis SportingNews.com’s new fight blog covering the worlds of boxing andâ†µMMA. The following piece was written by Anthony Wilson.
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â†µLastâ†µnight I was thinking about something (which is beyond the point of thisâ†µpost and thus not worth specifying) that led me to google the wordsâ†µ“Batman’s superpowers.” Upon seeing the results, I was reminded of aâ†µfact I already knew: Batman has no superpowers. He has inherited wealthâ†µbut other than that he is a self-made superhero, just a regular dudeâ†µwho relies on his intelligence and resources to fight crime in Gotham.
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â†µIâ†µimmediately drew a connection between Batman and Juan Manuel Marquez.â†µHe possesses none of the natural advantages of some of his world classâ†µcontemporaries. He doesn’t have great speed, reflexes, or power. Heâ†µisn’t supernaturally tall or long. He isn’t particularly strong. Heâ†µdoesn’t have an awesome money punch. And yet still he has risen to theâ†µtop of the sport, a man universally considered one of the top-3â†µpound-for-pound fighters in the game.
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Mannyâ†µPacquiao has three gifts from the heavens: mesmerizing speed,â†µprodigious power (especially when he was fighting below 135 pounds,â†µalthough the Hatton knockout at 140 was the most devastating singleâ†µpunch of his career), and a straight left hand that made him a force toâ†µbe reckoned with even when he had little else to go with it. And yet,â†µMarquez proved his equal, and some would say more than his equal, in their two fights against each other.
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â†µLikeâ†µBatman, Marquez excels because he is extremely smart and has completeâ†µcommand of his utilities – which in his case are the tried and trueâ†µtechniques of the sweet science and a courageous fighting heart.â†µCounterpunching is his modus operandi. There is no one who putsâ†µtogether combinations more brilliantly. Want a snapshot of his acumen?â†µLook no further than his closing out of Juan Diaz, when he set Babyâ†µBull up with body punches before finishing him off with an umpteenthâ†µprecise uppercut. Want to see how well he can adjust amidst adversity?â†µJust watch the first fight with Pacquiao, when he was able to salvage aâ†µdraw despite getting knocked down three times in the first round. Sixtyâ†µseconds after surviving an ambush that had Lampley referring to Mannyâ†µas a “storm” and Merchant likening Manny to a “typhoon,” Marquez wasâ†µalready beginning to time and dodge the Filipino’s wildly thrown leftâ†µhands.
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â†µBill Simmons once wrote that in order for Jason Kidd toâ†µcompensate for not being able to shoot, the rest of his game had to beâ†µperfect. I saw similarities between that assessment of Kidd and the oneâ†µI have of Marquez: he has average natural ability, but he more thanâ†µmakes up for it by being technically flawless.
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â†µBut I think theâ†µBatman analogy works better: In his prime Kidd was blessed with greatâ†µspeed (no one got from one end to the other faster with the ball inâ†µtheir hands), and he remains very strong for his position (and he stillâ†µhas those stellar mitts of his). Marquez, on the other hand, is exactlyâ†µlike the Dark Knight: a superhero without a superpower.
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â†µMarquezâ†µwill be facing another superhero, Floyd Mayweather Jr., next Saturday.â†µHe will be outgunned. He is facing not only a larger opponent but oneâ†µwith probably the most celebrated superpowers in the boxing comic book:â†µMoney May’s pure athleticism is off the charts. His speed and reflexesâ†µare blinding. But it’d be wise not to count Marquez out: He may notâ†µhave any special capabilities, but a superhero is a superhero. Batmanâ†µalways manages to get it done, and Marquez usually does, too.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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