Juan Manuel Marquez: The Modern King of Mexican Boxing

Juan Manuel Marquez was born in Mexico City on August 23, 1973 to a boxing family. Marquez's father was a pro fighter with a 35-fight record, and his younger brother Rafael also became a professional fight and world champion. Juan became an amateur boxer at the age of 13, ran up a record of 35-1 and took home two Golden Gloves titles along the way. He turned pro in May 1993, and suffered an ignominious career start by losing in a Disqualification. Marquez would not lost again for six long years.

Fringe Contender
By February 1997, Marquez was 18-1 and challenging for the WBO's vacant featherweight North American (NABO) strap in a fight in California. Standing 5'7" with a 67" reach, Marquez was rapidly developing the skills that would make him into one of boxing's deadliest counter-punchers. During his featherweight days, his style was characterized by good hand speed, staggering power, pin-point punch accuracy and solid point defense. As he moved up in weight, Marquez would lose some of that speed, but the rest of his assets remained solid well into his late 30s.

His stint as an NABO title holder was distinguished with wins over future champ Agapito Sanchez, former champs Alfred Kotey of Ghana and longtime South American champ Juan Gerardo Cabrera. Still, Marquez could only be described as a dark horse fringe contender when he challenged Freddie Norwood for WBA title in 1999. Norwood remains one of the great, overlooked fighters of an era when the 126 lbs division was hot, as he had an awkward, dangerous style that made him a much-avoided figure. Marquez took the fight to the champion, and was by far the busier fighter that night, but found himself on the wrong side of Norwood's rough clinching. Marquez went down in the 2nd, while Norwood was dropped by a two-punch combo in the 9th that was not ruled a knockdown. In a controversial decision, Norwood kept his WBA title. It was a bad call for Marquez, as it sent him into obscurity for two years.

First Steps to Greatness
After a stint in the wilderness, "Dinamita" Marquez was back in contention in March 2002, challenging fringe contender Robbie Peden for two North American titles (the WBC's NABF belt and the IBF's USBA strap) in an eliminator for the IBF's #1 contender status. Marquez dominated Peden and forced him to quit in the 10th. That earned him a 2003 shot at IBF champion and perennial featherweight contender Manuel Medina, which Marquez won by 7th Round TKO.

In missing the last two years, Marquez had missed opportunities to fight the burning hot featherweights of his day, Briton Naseem Hamed and Mexican legends Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. By 2003, his fellow Mexicans were moving up to 130 lbs and Hamed had retired, and all the while Marquez was a relative unknown. It had looked like the good times had passed Marquez by, but little did the boxing world know that "Dinamita" was in fact taking his first steps to greatness.

In November, Marquez met Derrick "Smoke" Gainer in the first defense of his IBF belt and over the vacant WBA title. In a repeat of what he did to Peden, Marquez trashed Gainer and forced him to quit. Marquez now had two world title belts, and sat squarely across the path of a rising tornado from the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao.

In May 2004, Pacquiao had not yet become the Pound for Pound Kingpin we know today. Rising steadily through the weight classes, Pacman had only just shocked the world by stopping Marco Antonio Barrera in a huge upset. He shocked the world again when he sent Marquez crashing to the floor three times in the 1st Round that night in the MGM Grand. Marquez would show enormous grit to survive such a calamitous round, and came right back in the 2nd Round to produce a closely fought contest. By Round 3, Marquez was asserting his superior skill and landing clean counters on Pacquiao sweeping the middle rounds. Pacman upped the ante, bitterly contesting the late rounds.

The result was a Draw which remains controversial to this day. One scorecard read 113-113, but that judge later admitted to making a mistake and scoring the 1st Round a 10-7 instead of 10-6. If he had scored it correctly, Pacquiao would have won. However, the real drama is in how Marquez came back from what is ordinarily a crippling point deficit to win almost every other round and pull out a desperately close fight. The real travesty was not in the even scorecard, but in the scorecards that had either fighter ahead by 115-110.

Stumbling
Juan Manuel Marquez was now an established figure in boxing, still in possession of two featherweight world title belts, and his Draw with Pacquiao would only grow with time. It was here that Marquez's team failed him. After two defenses of his titles, including a big points win over fringe contender Orlando Salido, Marquez traveled to Indonesia to fight Chris John in 2006.

Stripped of the IBF title, Marquez was only defending the WBA belt. Confusingly, John was also the "WBA Champion," in another example of that organization's scandalous practices. Marquez was strangely lethargic with Chris John, who stymied "Dinamita" through the first third of the fight. This continued until the middle rounds, when Marquez began to find his rhythm and started to land thudding blows. Then Marquez found himself derailed when points were deducted from him for low blows in Round 10 and 11. Although the result was labeled controversial, Scott Mallon, the only Western journalist present, agreed with the decision when a Unanimous Decision was read out for Chris John.

Comeback
Marquez finally secured a fight with one of his Mexican rivals, Marco Antonio Barrera, at 130 lbs in March 2007. He defeated Barrera in a hotly contested battle and lifted his WBC title. He then defended that title by dominating contender and US Olympic Silver Medalist Rocky Juarez.

The time had finally come for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who had since tussled with both Barrera and Erik Morales and built a reputation as "The Mexi-Slayer." It was a reputation Marquez was determined to puncture. In this all-out war, Pacman was stunned in the 2nd and came back to drop Marquez in the 3rd. Despite the knockdown, Marquez's skills once again told out against Pacman's sheer speed as the Mexican's blows found there mark round after round. Even though it was a painfully close fight, there was much shock in the boxing community (outside of the Philippines anyway) when the verdict was read: a Split Decision for Manny Pacquiao. The result has been controversial ever since, with the overwhelming majority of journalists placing Marquez ahead by one or two points.

The King of Mexican Boxing
Many anticipated a rubber match between Marquez and Pacquiao, and a $6 million offer was on the table for the Pacman. It was a huge payday for a fighter who was still not quite the top star in boxing yet, and it says much about how dangerous Pacquiao thinks Marquez really is that he turned it aside, moved up to lightweight to fight David Diaz, and went on to avoid Marquez ever after. Still, his arch-rival status with Pacquiao, the hated "Mexi-Slayer," cemented Marquez's status as the new King of Mexican boxing.

Even though it was plain Pacman wanted no part of him, Marquez was determined to not give up, and followed the Filipino into the lightweight division. He fought the Cuban champion Joel Casamayor and stopped him in the 11th in a thrilling bout.Marquez then captured the WBO and WBA Lightweight Titles by shutting down and knocking out Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz in nine rounds.

Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao was not the only fighter dancing around a dangerous opponent. Floyd Mayweather decided the easiest road to avoiding Pacman was through Marquez, and the two fought at in September 2009 welterweight match. Marquez made a valiant effort, but in the end he was simply not up to fighting a man who was both bigger and faster, and dropped a big points loss. However, "Dinamita" bounced back in July 2010 in a rematch with Juan Diaz, winning a huge decision victory.

The Future
Juan Manuel Marquez is undoubtedly nearing the end of his career. While he stands as the top dog of the lightweight division, at 37 he cannot have too many good years left. Having won world titles in three weight divisions, Marquez is angling for a fight with one of the 140 lbs champions, and no doubt hoping a win will catapult him into a rubber match with Pacquiao.

Sources: boxrec.com; live fight footage; hbo.com/boxing/people#/boxing/people/juan-manuel-marquez/fighter-bio/juan-manuel-marquez.html