Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez (born August 23, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes, from featherweight to light welterweight, including the lineal championship at lightweight.
In a career that spanned over twenty years, Márquez was known for being a fast and highly technical boxer who was exceptionally skilled at combinations and counterpunches, yet also willing to engage in slugfests with opponents. He was also credited for his toughness, and never lost a fight by stoppage. His most notable bouts include his four-fight saga with Manny Pacquiao and his fight against fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera.
Márquez was named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year in 2012. He is considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, and is ranked by BoxRec as the thirteenth greatest boxer of all time and the fifth greatest Mexican boxer of all time, pound for pound. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2020.
Amateur career Márquez had an amateur record of 82–4, with 72 wins by knock-out.
Professional career Featherweight He made his professional boxing debut at age 19 on May 29, 1993, losing via disqualification to Javier Duran. Márquez remained undefeated for six years, compiling a 29–1 record that included wins against future champions Agapito Sanchez, Julio Gervacio and Alfred Kotey. In 1997, Márquez won the WBO NABO Featherweight title, which he defended seven times. During this time, he was referred to as the "best fighter without a world title." Márquez was WBO Featherweight Champion Naseem Hamed's mandatory challenger for 22 straight months. However, the WBO allowed Hamed to schedule other fights instead. During this time, Márquez worked as an accountant while training under Ignacio Beristáin in Mexico City. Márquez would keep this job until winning his first world title in 2004.
Márquez vs. Norwood In 1999, Márquez faced Freddie Norwood for the WBA Featherweight title instead. Márquez was knocked down in the second round. In the 8th round, Norwood's glove touched the canvas after an exchange. However, it was not ruled a knock down by the referee who was standing opposite to the action. In the 9th round, Márquez scored a knockdown after a two punch combination. Márquez lost via controversial unanimous decision. HBO Punchstat had Norwood landing 73 out of 290 punches thrown to Márquez's 89 of 444.
On November 20, 1999, Márquez faced Remigio Molina and defeated him in eight rounds. In 2000, he defeated former champion Daniel Jimenez and five fights later, he defeated future champion Robbie Peden in ten rounds and captured the NABF & USBA Featherweight titles.
Featherweight champion
Márquez received his second bout for a world title on February 1, 2003, when he defeated former four-time Featherweight Champion Manuel Medina and captured the vacant IBF Featherweight title. In the 2nd round, Márquez connected with a three-punch combination that floored Medina. The fight was stopped in the 7th round after Márquez knocked Medina down for a second time.
He then defeated Derrick Gainer later in the year in a unification bout to win the WBA Featherweight title and become the WBA (Super) Champion.
Márquez vs. Pacquiao I
In May 2004, Márquez fought Lineal & The Ring Featherweight Champion Manny Pacquiao in a bout where Márquez was knocked down three times in the 1st round. Márquez outboxed Pacquiao for the remainder of the bout which was ended in a controversial, split-decision draw. The final scores were 115–110 for Márquez, 115–110 for Pacquiao and 113–113. Judge Burt A. Clements (who scored the bout 113–113) later admitted to making an error on the scorecards, because he had scored the first round as 10–7 in favor of Pacquiao instead of the standard 10–6 for a three-knockdown round.
Defending unified titles On September 18, 2004, Márquez made his first appearance on pay-per-view, being on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs. Oscar De La Hoya, defeating and retaining his unified titles against future champion Orlando Salido. On May 7, 2005, he made his fourth title defense and first appearance on Showtime Championship Boxing, facing Victor Polo while walking away with a unanimous decision victory. In August 2005, Márquez was stripped of his WBA and IBF unified Featherweight titles for his inability to defend them against various boxers after potential bouts failed to draw a bid.
Márquez vs. John In 2006, Márquez attempted to regain a title, coming up short in a unanimous decision loss to undefeated Indonesian boxer Chris John in Indonesia for the WBA Featherweight Championship title. The loss led to the Ring Magazine's removal of Márquez from its pound for pound.
In late 2006, Márquez captured the Interim WBO Featherweight title by defeating Thai boxer Terdsak Jandaeng. He defended it against Filipino boxer Jimrex Jaca with a nine-round knockout in Hidalgo, Texas. Márquez was promoted to world champion status in December 2006 when previous champion Scott Harrison vacated the title. Márquez vacated the Featherweight title the following year to challenge WBC Super Featherweight Champion Marco Antonio Barrera.
Super featherweight Márquez vs. Barrera On March 17, 2007, Márquez became the WBC Super Featherweight Champion by defeating Barrera in Las Vegas via unanimous decision, by the official scores of 116–111, 116–111 and 118–109. Márquez's first defense of his title was to be held on September 15, 2007, against Argentinian boxer Jorge Rodrigo Barrios. However, Barrios withdrew from the bout due to injury, prompting American boxer Rocky Juárez to challenge Márquez for the title on November 3, 2007, in a losing effort.
Márquez vs. Pacquiao II
On November 29, 2007, Márquez announced that he would defend his title in a rematch with Pacquiao. On March 15, 2008, Márquez lost his Super Featherweight title to Pacquiao via split decision. Márquez suffered a knockdown in the third round that proved to be the difference, as the remaining rounds were scored dead even. Compubox scoring had Márquez landing 42 of 201 (21%) jabs to Pacquiao's 43 of 314 (14%) and landing 130 of 310 (42%) power punches to Pacquiao's 114 of 305 (37%).3/15 – Las Vegas, NV, Manny Pacquiao W 12 JM Marquez. CompuBox Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, offered a $6 million guarantee to Pacquiao for a rematch. Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, said, "I'm not saying they'll never fight again, but you have to let it bake for a while." Pacquiao said: "I don't think so, this business is over" as he planned to move up to the lightweight division.
Lightweight Márquez vs. Casamayor
Márquez moved up to the lightweight division in order to fight The Ring Lightweight Champion Joel Casamayor on the weekend leading up to Mexican Independence Day at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. On September 13, 2008, he defeated Casamayor in the 11th round after two knockdowns and captured his sixth world title in three different weight classes. In the first four rounds of the bout, Márquez continually walked into counter punches from Casamayor. It took Márquez until the fifth round to be able to find the range with his right hand. By the fifth round, a cut over Casamayor's right eye was opened from a clash of heads. Rounds five, six, seven and eight were rounds where Márquez landed straight punches from the outside, but he was also struck by Casamayor whenever he lunged forward. Two minutes into the eleventh round, Casamayor was knocked down by a right punch as he pulled away from an intense exchange. Casamayor was able to get on his feet, but it was clear he was still shaken from the knockdown. As soon as the action was allowed to resume, Márquez went in for the kill as he let his punches go in furious combination. Casamayor punched back, but he was knocked down again with about 7 seconds left in the round. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in the bout and stopped the fight as he deemed Casamayor unable to continue. The official judges had the fight scored 95–95, 95–95 and 97–93 for Márquez before the 11th-round knockout. After the win, The Ring ranked Márquez second on its pound for pound list and rated him the number one boxer in the lightweight division.
Márquez vs. Diaz I
On February 28, 2009, Márquez defeated former WBA, WBO & IBF Lightweight Champion Juan Díaz by knockout. Díaz controlled the fight early in the bout as the two boxers exchanged punches. Díaz opened a cut above Márquez's right eye in the fifth round and looked to control the bout, but Márquez responded by opening a gash above Díaz's right eye and stunning him with a left hook before the end of the eighth round. Márquez landed two hard rights to Díaz's face in a three-punch combination that knocked Díaz down with 35 seconds remaining in the ninth round. Díaz rose, but seconds later, Márquez followed with a right uppercut to the chin that knocked Díaz down for a second time. Referee Rafael Ramos waved an end to the fight after two minutes and 40 seconds of the ninth round. With the victory, Márquez defended his The Ring Lightweight title and claimed the vacant WBO and vacant WBA (Super) Lightweight titles. This bout was named "Fight of the Year" for 2009 by The Ring magazine and ESPN.com. After the fight, Márquez expressed an interest in fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Welterweight Márquez vs. Mayweather
Márquez moved up to the welterweight division and fought undefeated pound for pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight was scheduled to take place at 144-pound catch weight on July 18, 2009, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; but was postponed due to a rib injury sustained by Mayweather. The bout was rescheduled and held on September 19, 2009. During the official weigh in, Márquez weighed in at 142 lbs and Mayweather weighed in at 146 lbs, thereby incurring a financial penalty as he was 2 pounds over the catchweight. It was later discovered that both parties had agreed just before the weigh-in to allow Mayweather fight over the catchweight with Mayweather paying additional $600,000 due to arriving two pounds over the 144 lbs weight limit. Mayweather controlled the action in the fight. Márquez struggled to conquer Mayweather's defense and could not get out of the way of his counter punches. Márquez landed only 19% of his punches according to Compubox punch stats. Mayweather knocked Márquez down in the 2nd round. Mayweather won the fight by unanimous decision.
This was the fifth non-heavyweight fight in boxing history to sell more than one million pay-per-views, with the official HBO numbers totaling about $52 million. It was also the first fight to sell more than one million PPVs without featuring Oscar De La Hoya. Two months later, Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto would sell 1.25 million PPVs.
Return to Lightweight Márquez vs. Diaz II
When asked upon his return to the lightweight division, Márquez said: "I came back to lightweight because at welterweight I lost a lot of speed."
Márquez then began negotiations for a rematch with Juan Díaz. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said the fight for Márquez's title was being planned for July 10 as the main event of an HBO PPV card. He said it would "probably" take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After his comeback in 2010, fellow Mexican boxer Erik Morales said he would like to fight Márquez. Morales returned two divisions higher in 2010, as a welterweight. However, Márquez has also stated that he would be interested in a fight with Ricky Hatton.