Juan Manual Marquez
While Marco Antonio Barrerea and Erik Morales have grabbed the spotlight as Mexico’s premier boxing exports in the latest era of boxing Juan Manuel Marquez has toiled away in the background. However at the age of 35 Juan Manuel Marquez has won titles at two weights, beaten Marco Antonio Barrerea, became the first man to stop Joel Casamayor and had two very close fights with Manny Pacquiao which many argue he was more than unfortunate not to have won. Today boxing fans and pundits are beginning to believe Juan Manuel Marquez may be the greatest Mexican boxer of his generation. As Juan Manuel Marquez takes another very dangerous fight against the formidable Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz. We will take a look at his career to date and his strenths and weaknesses.
Juan Manual Marquez: Where it all began
Born in Mexico City in 1973 Juan Manuel Marquez is one of eight children and most great fighters fighters and atheletes who make it to the top he started young at the age of 8. Most likley motivated by a friendly sibling rivalry with younger brother Rafael and the guidance of a father who himself contested 35 professional fights. by the time Marquez turned pro in May 1993 two months after a 16 year old Erik Morales, Marquez had won two Golden Glove titles and amassed an amateur record of 35-1.
Juan Manual Marquez Pre-Pacquiao
Juan Manuel Marquez proffessional career didn’t get off to the best of starts as he experienced his first defeat via disqualification to future journey man Javier Duran. Undterred Marquez went on to win 29 fights in a row scoring 22 knockouts. Gradually climbing up the featherweight ranks, his run of victories earned him a shot at the WBA Featherweight title where he fought and lost a unanimous decision to Freddie Norwood. Not that anyone would know at the time, this result would set a trend for future losses in Juan Manual Marquez career as it is disputed by some and ratified by others on equal terms. Like most people I didn’t see Marquez vs Norwood, but from what I have read it was one to forget with more grappling than boxing.
While building a reputation as an excellent boxer Juan Manuel Marques often repressed the fighter within. While Marquez scored plenty of KO’s it was often done in a less scintillating fashion than compatriots Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales who despite being younger than Marquez were more experienced and more accomplished having already fought two classic bouts witheach other by the time Marquez picked up his first title in February 2003 against battle tested veteran Manuel Medina. Medina had already faced and usually lost to many of the top 10 featherweights at the time with names on his record including: Tom Johnson, Derrick Gainer, Paul Ingle Johnny Tapia, Lusito Espinosa, John John Molina and Naseem Hamed. Barrera and Morales aside, if you throw in Kevin Kelly and Kennedy McKinney Medina record can be read as a who’s who of the featherweight division from around 1994 to 2002 and even though Juan Manual Marquez was not the first man to stop Medina by dispatching the tough veteran within 5 rounds he was the fastest. Just short of his 10 year anniversary as a pro Juan Manual Marquez was finally crowned featherweight champion of the world, after missing out with fights with Naseem Hamed he had arrived! Well almost…
February 27, 2009 at 7:46 pm |
[...] Page 1: Juan Manuel Marquez – the early years [...]