Quote Originally Posted by CutMeMick View Post
JMM was THEE mandatory challenger to Naz... Naz ducked him for a long time.
That is a fact.

Emmanuel Steward (RIP) admitted to telling Naz and advising to steer clear from him and not fight him and Naz listened.
That is also a fact.
It is a fact, but it only paints part of the picture. Naz was a superstar, and as such cherry picked opponents that would make big fights. Luis Abregu is number one contender for Mayweather's title, but I won't be accusing Mayweather of ducking him if they never fight.

I'm a huge Marquez fan, but I'm not kidding myself that he was the same fighter in the late nineties that he became a few years later. Marquez didn't win a world title until after Naz retired. Marquez has stated himself many times that he became more aggressive later in his career because he threw away fights.
If I had to place a bet, I'd put it on Naz to beat a pre 2000 Marquez.