Juan Manuel Márquez
Juan Manuel Márquez | |
|---|---|
| Born | Juan Manuel Márquez Mendez August 23, 1973 |
| Nationality |  Mexican |
| Other names | Dinamita |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Featherweight |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 49 |
| Wins | 45 |
| Wins by KO | 34 |
| Losses | 3 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 0 |
Juan Manuel Márquez Mendez (born August 23, 1973, Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican boxer in the featherweight division and a former World Featherweight champion.
Professional Career
Marquez was the WBO number #1 contender for two years while Naseem Hamed was the WBO featherweight champion. To Hamed's credit, he did offer Marquez a fight in the summer of 2000, but Marquez declined. Marquez ended up getting a title shot against Freddie Norwood for the WBA Featherweight Title. Marquez was knocked down in the fight, but himself scored a knockdown on Norwood yet came up short in a decision loss.
Capturing his First Title
It took Juan Manuel Marquez another 4 years to get a second title shot. His second shot came against Manuel Medina in 2003 for the Vacant IBF Featherweight Title, and Marquez stopped the game veteran in the 7th round. He then defeated Derrick Gainer later in the year to win the WBA title.
Fight Against Manny Pacquiao
Marquez then accepted an offer to fight Manny Pacquiao in May of 2004. In a thrilling Fight Of The Year candidate, Marquez was knocked down three times in the first round, but gamely fought back to win many of the remaining rounds. Fans hotly debate who deserved the win, but the official result was a draw. Marquez, under the advice of his manager and trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain, priced himself out of a rematch with Pacquiao, demanding more than the $750,000 offered purse. Although this was a ploy for more money in the rematch negotiations, Eric "El Terrible" Morales stepped into the negotiations with his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, which also promoted Marquez, and Juan Manuel Marquez was undercut in the negotiations. This was due largely to the fact that a fight between Morales and Pacquiao would bring in larger profits for Top Rank and stir the imagination of more fight fans, due to Morales' then recent loss to Marco Antonio Barrera.
Losing His Titles
In 2005 he was stripped of his IBF belt for his inability to defend against the respective number one contender of the organization, Phafrakorb Rakkietgym, after the bout failed to draw a bid, and dute to the WBA unified championship rules, Marquez lost his WBA belt as well. In 2006, Marquez attempted to regain a title, coming up short in a controversial decision loss to Chris John of Indonesia in Chris John's home country for the WBA featherweight championship—this disputed decision led to The Ring magazine's removal of Márquez from its pound-for-pound top 10 list.
A Second Chance
In late 2006 Marquez captured the interim WBO Featherweight Title with an exciting TKO of Terdsak Jandaeng and defended it against Philipine boxer Jimrex Jaca with a 9th round KO in late November of 2006 in Hidalgo, Texas. The interim bout was created due to Scott Harrison's absence from the ring due to personal issues. Since his controversial loss to Chris John, Marquez has modified his highly-skilled and intelligent counter-punching style to include more offense. At 33 years old, one must ask the question of how long Juan Manuel Marquez can remain at the top of his game and move forward in the boxing world.
Personal
Marquez comes from a very strong boxing pedigree, and one of his brothers is also a championship boxer: Bantamweight Rafael Márquez.
External Links
See also
  | This Mexican biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |