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Nicholas Walters – Miguel Marriaga: Revenge or Upset? Breakdown and Prediction

NWBy Travis “Novel” Fleming

This Saturday night, June 13th, live from the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City, New York, Nicholas Walters, 25-0, 21 KO’s, the undefeated number one featherweight in the world, seeks redemption against Colombian power puncher Miguel Marriaga, 20-0, 18 KO’s, who beat Walters in the amateurs for a spot in the 2008 Olympics. Walters will be making his fourth defense of his WBA world featherweight championship, and the bout will be aired on HBO.

Since their amateur encounter, in the professional ranks, Walters has emerged as the best fighter in the most talented division in boxing, improving with every outing. Marriaga hasn’t been afforded the same opportunities, but he’s remained undefeated throughout twenty fights, with only two of them going the distance, and looks to be a legit contender.
Walters’ first exposure to North American boxing fans happened in May of 2014 when he absolutely destroyed former three time champion Vic Darchinyan, at the time 39-7-1, 28 KO’s, on the undercard of Nonito Donaire vs Simpewe Vetyeka, in Macau China. The KO was shown on HBO, and Americans finally got the chance to marvel at one of the future stars of boxing. Walters followed that up with an upset knockout over a man who just over a year before, pound for pound, was ranked behind only Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao. Walters easily destroyed the favored Nonito ” the Filipino Flash” Donaire, at the time 33-2, 21 KO’s, via sixth round TKO, and put the boxing world on notice, while climbing to the top ranking in the featherweight division. Just to toot my own horn for a second, I not only predicted the upset, but called the very round that Walters would stop Donaire. Rarely have I ever nailed the round of a knockout, so please excuse my gloating.

As an amateur, Walters missed out on qualifying for the 2007 Olympics in Beijing by dropping a decision to the man he will be looking at for revenge on Saturday night. He turned pro in 2008, racking up a record of 21-0, 17 KO’s, fighting mainly out of Panama, which earned him a shot at the vacant WBA featherweight title in December of 2012 against Daulis Prescott, 26-1 19 KO’s. Walters KO’d Prescott to claim his first world title, and, up until today, has made three title defenses, winning all three in spectacularly dominant fashion by knockout.
Miguel Marriaga was an outstanding amateur who turned pro in 2009, and has since accumulated an impressive record of, 20-0, 18 KO’s. So far he has fought mostly out of Colombia, with the occasional bout in Mexico sandwiched in between. In October of last year, he fought his first highly ranked opponent, while making his American debut, against Christopher Martin, 28-4-3, 9 KO’s, in Santa Monica, California. He proved he was a legitimate contender, by giving the typically durable Martin his only knock out loss to date in the sixth round. In Martin’s next bout, he would face current WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr, 26-1, 15 KO’s, who had to settle for a decision win over Martin, despite destroying champion Jhonny Gonzalez, 57-9-0, 48 KO’s, by KO in his very next fight.

Both Walters and Marriaga are 5’7″, and Marriaga is one year younger at 28. Neither man has a youth, or size, advantage. Marriaga beat Walters in the amateur ranks so he’s entering the bout with confidence, but being the headlining act on HBO is a whole different level of pressure. In the pro ranks, Walters has proven himself, so neither man has the edge in confidence. Like fellow Colombians Edison Miranda, and Breidis Prescott, Marriaga has raw power, but will his skill set be exposed by Walters in the pro ranks like his countryman Edison Miranda vs Andre Ward? Twelve professional rounds is a completely different ballgame than four amateur rounds. Walters is one of the hardest punchers in boxing, but, on top of his power, he has developed into a very capable technician. So far, both men have displayed solid chins, and power, so expect the better developed skill set of Walters to dictate the pace of the fight en-route to a clear decision victory where Marriaga has his moments, possibly rocking Walters a few times. Sometimes, amateur success over a foe leads to an air of inferiority in the loser. We saw it in Shane Mosley vs Vernon Forrest. Styles make fights, and sometimes a foe just has your number. Could this be Walters’ Mosley vs Forrest moment? I personally hope it isn’t, as I feel Walters is destined to become the greatest Jamaican fighter since Mike “The Body Snatcher” McCallum.

Another major reason to root for the devastating Jamaican lies in the recent announcement by Walters that he is willing to engage in a super fight with WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, 4-1, 2 KO’s, should he get past Marriaga. Lomachenko is widely regarded as the greatest amateur of all time, he won two Olympic gold medals, and various amateur championships, for Ukraine before turning pro in 2013. He seems destined for greatness, but Walters provides a major roadblock. Lomachenko was so great as an amateur, that he fought for a title in his second pro fight, which is incredible considering most amass at least twenty pro victories before getting their first title shot. He lost a close decision to three time, two division, champion Orlando Salido, 40-12-2, 28 KO’s, but rebounded with an impressive unanimous decision over the ultra talented Gary Russel Jr, for the WBO featherweight title, proving that his amateur greatness has translated into the paid ranks. A fight between Lomachenko and Walters would instantly catapult the winner into the pound for pound rankings, and establish them as a future star of boxing. There’s great things to look forward to with a Walters win. Lomachenko is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank and, even though Arum has been known to not take risks with his stars, he saw what happened when he kept Juan Manuel Lopez, aka “Juanma”, away from a super fight with the extremely talented Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa. Puerto Rican sensation Juanma got destroyed by Orlando Salido in what was supposed to be a tune up fight, killing all hype for a big money clash with Gamboa. Arum has gone on record saying that he wants to make Lomachenko vs Walters next, before it’s too late.

Official prediction: Walters UD 8 rounds to 4 over Marriaga.

Side note: HBO’s undercard this Saturday features budding Puerto Rican superstar Felix Verdejo, 17-0, 13 KO’s. Finally, Verdejo is getting major exposure as the highest regarded prospect in boxing. The 22 year old Verdejo looks to be on his way to succeeding Miguel Cotto as the next big thing out of the boxing crazed country of Puerto Rico. The legendary Felix “Tito” Trinidad, passed torch to Cotto, and, with Cotto in the final years of his career, Verdejo looks like the next heir to the Puerto Rican boxing throne. You do not want to miss this kid in action, he is a super star in the making. He takes on undefeated Ivan Najera, 16-0, 8 KO’s.

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