Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez: And The Winner is...

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in June 2005, he was greeted by a hostile crowd partisan to the New Jersey native.

The acrimonious reception brought out the best in Mayweather, who stopped Gatti in six rounds after dropping him early during a generally dominant performance for the World Boxing Council light welterweight title.

The undefeated six-time champion expects a similar atmosphere Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather (39-0, 25 knockouts) takes on Mexico City's Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

Their fight takes place three days after Mexico's Independence Day celebration, meaning that ringside spectators are expected to be largely pro-Marquez.

"It's Mexican Independence Day Weekend, so I want everyone to come out and see the fireworks and see the explosions," the 32-year-old Mayweather, returning from a 21-month layoff, told FanHouse's Elie Seckbach this week.

"I'm looking forward to going out there and to seek and destroy," said Mayweather, a five-division champion. "And I'm pretty sure he's looking to do the same thing."

Among the questions that will be answered on Saturday night are whether the undefeated former champion can shake any relevant ring rust, or if Marquez, an aging, 36-year-old five-time titlist, will grow old in the ring or perform with youthful vigor at his highest weight ever.

Another question is whether Marquez -- who has skipped the 140-pound weight class -- can carry his power into the welterweight (147 pounds) division.

Marquez is coming off of junior lightweight (135 pounds) knockouts over Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz -- two fighters who were stopped for the first times in their careers.

Part of Marquez's strategy will be to simply overwhelm Mayweather, a defensive specialist who, habitually, spends the first couple of rounds trying to figure out his opponents.

A relentless body- and counter-puncher, Marquez will look to take the first few rounds and potentially test what could be Mayweather's tender ribs.

If Marquez can hurt Mayweather or get his attention with a telling blow or two, he'll need to then press his advantage by taking the action to his opponent.

Marquez might then be able to rile up the largely Latino crowd, and convince the judges that Mayweather's retreat has more to do with concern than with a game plan.

If that happens, then the second half of the fight could be up for grabs, because Marquez rarely, if ever, tires. To the contrary, he usually grows in strength as his fights wear on.

In fact, just last Friday, Marquez closed out his Mexico City training camp by easily running nearly 13 kilometers.

Marquez's stamina has translated into late-round comebacks, such as during his first of two fights with Manny Pacquiao -- a draw in August of 2004-- in which he overcame three, first-round knockdowns.

But Mayweather's conditioning is equally impressive, so much so that his bait-and-switch back-pedaling and circling often sets up his opponents for late-round stoppages.

During his last fight, a 10th-round knockout for Ricky Hatton's WBC junior welterweight crown, Mayweather picked his spots early, gradually stepped up the intensity, and caught the Englishman walking into a left-handed "check-hook" that dropped him for the first of two knockdowns.

Trainer, Roger Mayweather, is looking for a repeat of what he considers his nephew's greatest performance -- a 10th-round knockout of Diego Corrales in January of 2001.

In that fight, Mayweather floored the previously unbeaten, hard-punching Corrales five times to retain his WBC super featherweight (130 pounds) championship belt.

Part of Roger Mayweather's game plan might be to slice up Marquez from a distance.

Marquez still has scar tissue over his right eye -- evidence that his skin may be softening up from his many wars with the likes of Pacquiao, Diaz, Casamayor and Marco Antonio Barrera.

Another question concerns weight: Will Marquez be a bloated fighter, or will Mayweather be a drained fighter?

Marquez told FanHouse that the rise in weight has helped him, since he can concentrate more on technique and strategy and less on losing poundage.

Marquez expects to come in at right around the catchweight limit or at 143 pounds, and to enter the ring at around 149 or 150.

Mayweather, who has suffered only one, flash knockdown, weighed as much as 150 pounds for his May 2007 decision over Oscar De La Hoya for the WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) crown.

Mayweather was an extremely accurate puncher against De La Hoya, according to CompuBox.

In fact, during his last five bouts against Hatton, De La Hoya, Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah and Sharmba Mitchell, Mayweather landed nearly half of his power punches while receiving only 16 percent of his rivals' -- this while averaging just 37 punches per round and weighing 146 and 147 pounds.

According to CompuBox, those same five opponents landed only two jabs per round and less than one in five of their power shots on Mayweather.

As for the layoff, Roger Mayweather cited history for reasons his nephew won't have any trouble getting re-accustomed to the game.

Oscar De La Hoya stopped Ricardo Mayora following a 20-month layoff. Sugar Ray Leonard returned from absences of 27, and, 39 months, respectively, for a ninth round knockout of Kevin Howard, and a decision over Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Muhammad Ali came back from a 43-month exile to stop Jerry Quarry in three rounds.

Floyd Jr., said Roger Mayweather, simply won't have any problems against Marquez.

FanHouse disagrees.

Marquez is the most complete and resilient rival Mayweather has faced, and his confidence is soaring.

For Marquez not only believes he won the first fight with Pacquiao, but also the second, which went into the books as split-decision victory for the man from the Philippines.

Marquez channeled that intensity into his last two knockouts of Casamayor and Diaz, and he'll try to do the same heading into Saturday's battle with Mayweather.

But conventional wisdom has Marquez's momentum and bravery carrying him straight into the rapier-like fists of the larger, faster Mayweather.

So the pick here is Mayweather, who should stop Marquez likely on cuts in the middle to later rounds.

Mayweather-Marquez is being shown on HBO-pay per view, as well as at designated movie theaters around the country. Click here for a list of participating theaters.