Tale of the tape
Stance orthodox
Height 5′ 7″
Reach 67“
W 49 (KO 36) L 4 D 1
Marquez Mastery of Counter Punching
This has been Juan Manuel Marquez bread and butter throughout his career, if you want to see a fighter who can throw counter: Jabs, straight rights, left hooks and uppercuts to either head or body Juan Manual Marquez is your man. Marquez ability to quickly time opponents and make them pay again-and-again has caused some of Juan Manuals fights to lack excitement. Once a fighter has taken few sharp counters from Dinamita they tend to adopt a more conservative approach to attack (or if not beaten up and/or stopped). This leaves it down to Marquez who has already found a winning formula to force the action – something he has not always been willing to do.
Juan Manuel Marquez defence
Intelligent footwork is the obvious defensive ploy which keeps Marquez out of trouble. By constantly circling his opponents Marquez is able to prevent them from setting their feet and throwing their heavier shots. No runner Marquez approach is Cobra like as he hypnotises his prey with movement before striking, Opponents often find themselves following him around the ring going in effect where he wants them to go. The effect of this is that when they do throw shots they are often reaching with their punches leaving them open to counters. When opponents choose not to engage Marquez is also able to step in on the attack and throw punches while or before using lateral movement to escape without taking punishment. This is not Marquez only defensive trick however even if you can pin Marquez down he has a vastly underrated ability to slip punches. When cornered Marquez often dips his right knee in order to avoid oncoming jabs and crosses again causing opponents to land just short. By dipping his knee Marquez is also able to maintain his stance and again counter his opponent. If this was not enough Marquez also has the reflexes and smarts to read opponents and react often ducking over straight eights (or lefts) and weaving beneath hooks. All this being said Juan Manual Marquez is no Floyd Mayweather Jnr or even Joan Guzman and can and has been caught – especially when adopting the more aggressive style that has given him success of late..
Juan Manual Marquez ability to brawl
Going toe-to-toe is something that excites the fans and can break another fighters heart. Often furious exchanges , in evenly matched duels the person who comes out on top simply wanted it more. What limited art there is to this approach Marquez utilises; Stiffening his neck muscles tucking in his chin and coming in low Marquez wings away feet planted with hard hooks with both hands mixed with the occasional straight right to head and body, injecting a degree of lateral movement every now and then. While no-one can win all of these tit for chat exchanges I noted that Marquez tends to win more than he loses most notably against Marco Antonio Barrera who is a master in this field and Manny Pacqiao who Marquez continues to take on even after he was dropped in more than one of these exchanges.
Juan Manual Marquez the complete fighter
Juan Manual Marquez has a list of positive attributes which few if at all any fighters in the world can match: Fearless, highly skilful, experienced, intelligent, tough and versatile Juan Manual Marquez is arguably the best fighter in the world today. His ability to out-box and out-fight opponents is very rare and if he carried a heavier punch there is no doubt in my mind he would hold two KO victories over the consensus pound-for-pound number one Manny Pacquiao who seems hesitant to sign up for a rematch the Mexican warrior even though many dispute his points victory over Marquez.
Erm, How old is Marquez
The main thing going against Juan Manual Marquez is his age! Having been considered safety first earlier in his career Marquez has been able to maintain a high level of performance longer than younger Mexican contemporaries Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. However father time catches up with everyone and now in his mid-thirties it is completely feasible that one day Marquez will wake up and have lost that step or two. If you don’t believe it happens just ask Oscar De La Hoya.
Is Marquez suffering from Wear and Tear?
Marquez has been stepping into consecutively hard contests, and is now using a much more aggressive style which has caused him to take more shots. The last fighter I can recall who did this was the late Diego Corrales who’s amazing run came to an end by fourth round KO defeat in a rematch against Jose Luis Castillio – who he had beaten iby 10th round KO n an all time classic in his previous fight. Marquez can and probably will continue to burn the candle but these kind of actions take a toll.
Marquez has moved up in weight!
The fact that Juan Manual Marquez in now operating as a Featherweight two divisions above featherweight means he is now facing fighters who are naturally bigger and stronger than him. While his victory over Joel Casamayor was impressive the Cuban great is in the twilight of his career and pushed Marquez for most of the fight. When he does get in the ring with a young strong talented fighter such as Juan “Baby-Bull” Diaz will he be able to cope with the size disadvantage? Time will tell.
Page 1: Juan Manuel Marquez – the early years
Page 2: Juan Manuel Marquez – Wins his firt title
Page 3: Juan Manuel Marquez – vs Manny Pacquiao
Page 4: Juan Manuel Marquez – Begins to Decline?
Page 5: Juan Manuel Marquez – The comeback and Marco Antonio Barrera
