Juan Manuel Marquez|Proffessional Boxer

Juan Manual Marquez From the Spotlight to the Shadows

It would be fair to assume now that Marquez had now arrived and a quick repeat of one of the fights of the year seemed inevitable. But it didn’t materialise, money disputes, poor managerial decisions and maybe even foolish pride caused Marquez to miss out on a fight with Pacquiao and Erik Morales who in the spring of 2005 fought each other for the first time.

During the next two years Juan Manuel Marquez missed out on fights with the marquee names he had worked so hard to be mentioned alongside. Barrera completed his trilogy with Erik Morales and established himself as the number one Super Featherweight in the world. Pacquiao also moved up to the Super Featherweight boxing division and conducted a trilogy with Erik Morales which would see the faded Mexican great obliterated within three rounds in the rubber match.  Instead of being involved in these battles  Marquez was left behind in the featherweight division facing good if not  stellar opponents like Victor Polo and Orlando Salido.

But how did this happen? When  the chance to face Pacquiao again, in one of the most eagerly anticipated rematches in boxing   – Marquez was offered a career high $750,000 purse, however instead of snapping up this pay day Marquez promoters (at the time) Top Rank claimed Juan Manual  Marquez and his manager Nacho Beristain baulked and demanded the offer be doubled to  $1.5m dollars in order to match what Team Marquez believed Pacquiao, the fighter he had exposed, and who held no title would be making.  By refusing to accept less money than Pacquiao Juan Manuel Marquez effectively cut off his nose to spite his face and while Pacquiao took on and lost to Erik Morales who had  himself lost a clear decision to Marco Antonio Barrera just a few months before.

Instead of fighting Pacquiao Juan Manual Marquez took on credible but unknown challenger victor Polo, similar to Marquez the awkward southpaw had been very unlucky to only get a draw in his last fight against the troubled WBO title holder Scott Harrisons. The two unfortunate heroes clashed. Marquez took a clear but unexciting unanimous decision.

Many including myself can see the principle behind Marquez refusing to take the short end of the stick in a rematch against Pacquiao. But what was reported to of happened next no-one understood and almost ruined Juan Manual Marquez legacy in boxing.  After team Marquez had spurned HBO and his promoters Top Rank by passing on an immediate rematch with Manny Pacquiao – Marquez was given a chance at redemption with the added bonus of a $1.5mpurse  to fight Erik “El Terrible” Morales who had vanquished the Pacman in his last fight and raised the buzzing rumours that Manny Pacquiao was a limited boxer to a fully fledged chorus. Again the deal was not made, with Top Rank claiming Juan Manual Marquez and his team were demanding $3.5m for the fight.

This one the fans,  networks and his promoters could not understand the PR battle had been lost and Marquez trainer/manager Nacho Beristain was being portrayed as more hindrance than aid in Marquez career . In popular boxing forums the unquestionable desire Marquez had shown in his fight with Manny Pacquiao was now forgotten. Marquez relationship with Top-Rank had now completely disintegrated and in one of the most bizarre episodes in modern day boxing one of the more recognisable names in boxing was stripped of his title when not one promoter met the $50 000 minimum to promote the fight. The strange this is that it was not only Top-Rank who by this time had more or less washed their hands of Marquez who failed to bid the minimum amount to stage the fight but  his mandatory opponent Phafrakorb Rakkiatgym  promoters also! Still Marquez was stripped while Rakkiatgym maintained his number one contender status… is it only boxing that works with this kind of logic?
This odd predicament only confirmed what had been long suspected, Juan Manual Marquez was now out in the cold. And instead of a rematch with Pacquiao or an all Mexican super fight with Erik Morales under the guidance of Nacho Beristain he would be receiving $50,000 to travel to Indonesia to fight a long time Featherweight title holder who almost no-one had seen Chris John. There are various stories surrounding Juan Manual Marquez trip to Indonesia but the facts are Chris John won a clear unanimous decision on the cards which very few people saw live. Watching the fight online Chris John is a good fighter who was able to counter and avoid Marquez who was forced to come forward but unable to significantly hurt John during this fight. Although many boxing fans and analysts dispute the decision it was a close fight and not the robbery that it is seen as today.

Sadley for Marquez boxing has become a sport where a fighter is only as good as his last fight and when on the verge of superstardom in a sport with very few stars Marquez seemed to choose depravity.