I wrote the article a couple of months ago, but in light of Marquez's performce in what could be his last fight I thought I would post this on here. Believe it or not this article got me banned from another forum. ________________________________________________________________________ Juan Manual Marquez, one of my favourite fighters of all time, a warrior, a technician, a counter puncher who can brawl with the best of them, supreme combination puncher the guy can do it all. When Marquez first started out he was much more of a technician, a defensive fighter, but this style put him in the shade in the eyes of many Mexican fight fans. Especially compared to MAB and Morales, who exemplified everything about Mexican boxing and had an epic trilogy together. In 2003 Marquez was involved in an epic fight himself self, against Manny Pacquiao. Marquez was put down 3 times in the opening round and showed what great powers of recovery he had. He came back from that to fight his way to a controversial draw. It showed Marquez, though a defensive fighter he would always respond when getting hit. Marquez then went to Indonesia to take on Chris John, in this fight Marquez had to be the aggressor, a style he was not suited to and did not look good. But the judging was not fair to him and the fight was much closer than the judges saw it and if not for the point deduction, Marquez may have edged it. Marquez finally got round to fighting one of his Mexican rival in Barrera. MAB was not at the top of his game anymore but was a far more thoughtful fighter though. Marquez boxed superbly to a wide UD, maybe a little too wide for my liking, to capture the WBC super featherweight crown. Then came the inevitable rematch with Pacquiao, Pacquiao skill had improved vastly since their first encounter. This fight was like high speed chess, toe to toe action from start to finished with neither guy giving an inch but with great technical ability too. Great combinations, great counter punching, a true great fight. Marquez just missing out on the decision though many though he had just nicked it. Marquez a career featherweight then stepped up to light-weight, many wonder if he would giving away too much at this weight division. But Marquez did not go for any warm up fights, he went straight to the world champions. Cassamayor and Juan Diaz, both great fights, both KO wins for Marquez, proving his power at the weight and his chin. Marquez had become a more exciting fighter, throwing more combinations, being more aggressive but also getting hit more. Barely out of superfeather, Mayweather then approached Marquez for his comeback fight, Marquez had to jump a further 2 weights to the catchweight of 144lbs. He look out of shape for that fight, slow and sluggish and was greatly outweighed by Mayweather who breached there agreement and came in at 146lbs. Some question if Marquez was past it, but Marquez proved his metal when again when he stepped in against the monster punching lightweight Michael Katsidis. Marquez fought Katsidis's type of fight he went toe to toe with him and what took place was some of the best combination punching I have ever seen, he stood right in front of Katsidis, avoided most of his punches and would then land 6 punch combos. Marquez was put down in 3rd, but as always his head clear remarkably fast and when he got up he was more dangerous than ever and peppered Kats with heavy punches of his own and made it back to a 10-9 round. He went on to stop the Kats in the 9th after he began to hit him at will with not much coming back. Marquez is ranked in the top 5 p4p list by almost everyone, he has showed zero sign of slowing down and is looking better than ever. In November he steps into the ring against Pacquiao for a third time at a weight he was not comfortable at the first time round. But he is much more comfortable at lightweight now and has had a fight at 140lbs which he looked like he was ins excellent condition for. Juan Manual Marquez a great fighter to watch, a nailed on future HOF and a legend of the sport, he has clearly stepped out of the shadow of MAB and Morales. Would love to see Morales vs Marquez happen still, better late than never. ________________________________________________________________________ Who know what the future lies for Marquez, retirement, a 4th fight with Pacquiao, or maybe the fight that never happened with Morales. If this is the end for Marquez, I'll just say it has been a pleasure watching one of the greatest ring technicians, a true warrior who gave us many great fights over the years.
Very good article. I have alway's admired Marquez he is a great fighter and seem's like a nice person too.
