Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez: Tracing Marquez's Career Through 10 Wins

At 38 years of age and with almost 60 professional fights, Juan Manuel Marquez is the definition of a veteran boxer. He was already well on his way to earning his status as a world-class ring talent before the start of this century.

On November 12, the three-division world champion and the No. 5 fighter on The Ring pound-for-pound list will meet international superstar Manny Pacquiao for a third time. Over their previous 24 rounds, the two have been pretty much dead even: Their first fight was a draw, and the second a split-decision victory for Pacman. 

Marquez thinks he won both fights. Plenty of boxing fans and observers agree with him.  

It is reasonable for people to question whether or not Marquez will be able to continue to bring his "A" game to the ring as he approaches 40, although I would argue that he has always had a style that relied more on high-level craftsmanship and guts than on the lightning reflexes and quick movement of youth. 

It is also reasonable to wonder how effective Marquez, the top-ranked lightweight in the world, will be when fighting 10 pounds over his ideal weight. But I think it's a mistake to draw too many conclusions from the shutout decision loss he endured at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Marquez has historically had trouble with fighters who used movement very effectively, and Mayweather, quicker and with considerable reach, would have given him fits even years ago at 135. 

But fanboys-come-lately who have never heard of Marquez and simply think Manny is going to blow Marquez away because he's Manny need to get a clue from the clue jar.

Even in the elite company of the great Mexican champions, Marquez is special, one of only four Mexican-born fighters to win world titles in three different weight classes. Clearly the smart money will be chasing the Filipino congressman in this fight, but Marquez has all the tools to play spoiler come November 12. 

Jose Luis Montes, November 12, 1994, Plaza Mexico, Mexico City: KO in 2

Unless you are a serious boxing fan who spent a lot of time in Mexico City during the 1990s, I almost hope you are asking "Who?" right now. 

Nobody is ever going to mistake Marquez' second-round stoppage of this obscure club fighter in his eighth professional bout for one of Dinamito's all-time great pugilistic achievements. But when you look at the story of Marquez's career, the fight with Montes stands out.

At 17-10 going into the match, Montes had the same number of professional fights as Marquez's previous seven opponents combined. Boxing fans and writers like to toss around words like "bum" and "tomato can" (and Montes, to be fair, is pretty much the kind of guy who they are talking about), but anybody who hangs around professional boxing long enough to acquire a 17-10 record has picked up at least some of the skills necessary to be dangerous to a young prospect in only his eighth fight, regardless of any big differences in talent level.  

Montes started 11-0 out the gate, so at some point a few people must have had high hopes for him. However, by the time he met Marquez, he had already pretty much begun his career as a punching bag for hire. Following his loss to the future world champ, he went 3-18 over the remainder of his career. 

Here is an interesting observation about the career of Jose Luis Montes that provides a larger insight into how boxing is run: After fighting exclusively in Mexico for the early part of his career, once he had firmly demonstrated that he was merely an easy-to-knock out opponent, Montes suddenly had promoters willing to fly him in for cards throughout the United States and Canada.

Julio Gervacio, April 29, 1996, Anaheim, CA: KO in 8

This was the performance that truly made the boxing world stand up and pay attention to Juan Manuel Marquez.

Going in he was 14-1, his only loss by DQ in his first fight. He was already viewed as a prospect to watch, no doubt about it. But this fight with former WBA world bantamweight champion Julio Gervacio was intended to be a true test. 

Gervacio wore that gold belt, and nobody will ever be able to take that away from him. But his record in championship fights was 1-3, and this knockout loss to Marquez was the start of a three-fight losing streak that ended his career.  

In retrospect, it's easy to see he was nowhere near Marquez's class. But at the time, this was a huge win for the young pro. 

Freddy Cruz, July 8. 1996, Great Western Forum, Inglewood, CA: UD, 10

Less than three months after his sensational KO of Gervacio, Marquez was back in Southern California, this time showcased at the Great Western Forum against extremely experienced veteran Freddy Cruz. At the time, Cruz was 50-9-7, giving him more than four times as many professional fights as Marquez. 

This was a fight everybody expected Marquez to win, but it was an important one. After handling a former world champion with relative ease, Marquez was being thrown immediately back into action against another much more well-traveled pro.

Despite the high regard with which Marquez was already held at this point, questions remained about him. As the announcers in this clip note, he had needed a controversial stoppage in the final round to steal the victory from Julian Wheeler less than a year earlier.

Cruz is one of those fighters whose Boxrec page makes your eyes bulge. The Dominican Republic native started his career fighting in Italy and France in 1984, compiling a miserable 1-4-1 record, before launching a busy six-year winning streak in 1986 that culminated with a majority draw versus Wilfredo Varquez in a WBA world bantamweight title fight. 

He won 10 straight following that, but never got another title shot. In the end, it got pretty ugly. He went 4-26-3 to finish his career after losing to Marquez, and was 0-2 coming into the bout. Marquez caught him in the beginning of what was going to be a pretty steep decline. 

But in this fight against Marquez, he was no cupcake. At this point he was clearly still taking his career seriously, and a win over the rising star Marquez would likely have earned him a bigger fight. He tried hard to make it competitive, but Marquez shut him out 100-89 on all three cards. 

Juan Gerardo Cabrera, June 20, 1998, the Topicana in Las Vegas, NV: TKO in 4

Nobody will ever make an argument that Juan Gerardo Cabrera belongs in the Hall of Fame. But the native of Argentina retired in 2007 with a very respectable record of 52-14-1, with 36 of those victories coming by way of knockout. In the late 1990s, both he and Marquez were emerging world title contenders. 

Cabrera had already fought Naseem Hamed for the IBF and WBO featherweight belts the previous summer, losing by TKO in the second round. For knowledgeable boxing fans, this had already exposed the fact that Cabrera was probably something less than a truly elite talent. 

Still, he followed that loss by winning eight straight over the next year and was a credible opponent to challenge Marquez for his NABO featherweight title in Vegas. 

Marquez used a good jab and movement to keep Cabrera continually off balance for the first three rounds. Early in the fourth, he got the opening he was looking for and pounced, overwhelming Cabrera and busting him open before the ref waved it off. 

Cabrera would continue to stay active and mostly successful, though the highest level he would ever get to again was fighting for various international and continental titles. 

Robbie Peden, March 9, 2002, AJ Palumbo Center, Pittsburgh, PA: RTD, 10

Marquez lost his first world title shot to Freddie Norwood by unanimous decision in 1999. Four long years later, he finally got this IBF title eliminator against Robbie Peden. 

"Bomber" Peden was an exciting Australian native. Going into the fight he was 20-1, but against Marquez his habit of holding his hands too low cost him, and his general lack of hand speed was exposed. 

Marquez had him puking blood after round 10, unable to continue. 

Peden actually won the vacant IBF featherweight title two years later when he TKO'd Nate Campbell, though he dropped it to Marco Antonio Barrera in his very next fight. 

Manuel Medina, February 2, 2003, Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas: TKO in 7

It is no secret that by the time this fight occurred, Marquez had spent years hungering for a title showdown with one of his fellow Mexican greats. While Medina was a far less lustrous prize than Marcos Antonio Barrera or Erik Morales, he had held and lost several versions of the featherweight world title and was a highly regarded ring warrior, having compiled a record of 60-12.

Against Marquez, is was clear that Medina's star had faded. He fought gamely, but Marquez's defense was too good and Medina's was just about nonexistent. Marquez was able to land clean shots again and again, and by round seven Medina's eye was swollen shut and it was an easy decision for the ring doctor to stop the bout.

After 10 years and over 40 professional fights, Marquez finally had his first world title.

Terdsak Kokietgym, August 5, 2006, MontBleu Resort, Stateline, NV: TKO in 7

Following his frustrating decision loss to Chris John in the far east, Marquez looked to get back on track in this matchup with Kokietgym for the interim WBO featherweight title.

He made a strong statement in this fight and demonstrated that the 24-1 Kokietgym was something less than an elite, world-class talent, as he dropped the native of Thailand in rounds two and six before stopping him on his feet in seven. 

Kokietgym would continue on after this fight and eventually amass a record of 45-3. He would fight once more for the WBO world title in 2008, losing a unanimous decision to Steven Luevano. He held a number of Asian-based titles throughout the latter half of his career. 

Marcos Antonio Barrera, March 17, 2007, Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas: UD, 12

This is a fight Marquez had waited years to get. During the first decade of this century, Barrera and fellow Mexican great Erik Morales had engaged in one of the greatest three-fight rivalries in the sport's history, while Marquez felt very much left out of the equation. 

Marquez finally got his opportunity, moving up to junior lightweight for the first time, and in the process winning a world title in his second weight class. 

There was some controversy in this fight. At the very end of the seventh round, one that Marquez seemed to be winning clearly, Barrera landed a counter left hook as Marquez missed wildly with a big overhand right. Marquez went down, but the official ruled it a slip.

Barrera also blatantly fouled Marquez as he was down, resulting in the deduction of a point. What could have been a 10-8 round for Barrera was instead a 10-8 round for Marquez.

Should it have been ruled a knockdown? I agree with the announcers at the start of this clip: "Claro." But the ref was also completely right for deducting the point from Barrera for the foul, so in reality, that round would have been no more than 9-8 for Barrera.

The judges scorecards ended up as 116-111 twice and 118-109. Take two points from Marquez if he had been ruled knocked down in seventh and give Barrera only one, since he legitimately lost a point on the foul, and you still end up 114-112 twice and 116-110.

Joel Casamayor, September 13, 2008, MGM Grand, Las Vegas: TKO in 11

Six months after dropping a split decision and his WBC super featherweight strap to Manny Pacquiao in a rematch of their celebrated draw, Marquez was back in Vegas in action against tough southpaw Joel Casamayor. 

Casamayor was fresh off an impressive TKO victory of Michael Katsidis, and he gave Marquez a competitive bout much of the way. But by round 11, Marquez was dialed in and determined to make sure that the fight did not reach the closing bell. 

At 40, Casamayor is another of the ageless wonders of our current era in boxing. He is scheduled to meet Timothy Bradley on the undercard of Pacquiao-Marquez next week. He has been brought in as an opponent for Bradley, who Top Rank is anxious to promote as a possible future Pacquiao opponent.

Maybe this is just the 40-year-old gym rat in me talking, but don't be shocked if the crafty and gutsy Casamayor turns over some apple carts when it comes to those plans. 

Juan Diaz I, February 28, 2009, Toyota Center, Houston, TX: KO in 9

This is one of those bouts that helped cement Marquez's reputation as a fighter who gives you your money's worth. It was an exciting fight that ended in thrilling fashion.

Marquez walked away just the fourth Mexican-born fighter ever to win world titles in three weight classes, as he earned The Ring and lineal world lightweight championship.  

Diaz, 10 years Marquez's junior, started quickly. But by the middle rounds it became clear that the old veteran was slowly dragging the young champion out into the very deep waters, where the currents run swift. 

Fighting for his life in front of his hometown crowd, Diaz went out on his shield in the best old-school manner. But as Max Kellerman characterizes it in this clip, it was a case of "a good young fighter losing to a great old fighter."

Diaz followed up this loss by splitting unanimous decisions with Paul Malignaggi and then losing a one-sided unanimous decision to Marquez in a rematch.  

Michael Katsidis, November 27, 2010, MGM Grand, Las Vegas: TKO in 9

Australian Michael Katsidis is one of the most exciting active fighters. I am waiting anxiously for the day when somebody matches him up with Marcos Maidana so that this generation's version of Gatti-Ward can commence. 

Against Marquez, Katsidis's aggressive style looked to be paying off early, as he dropped the champ in round three. But it was little more than a hiccup for Marquez, who demonstrated that even at age 37, he could still recover quickly from a knockdown. 

The in-fighting was exciting and intense throughout this battle, but Marquez's vastly superior footwork and head and body movement gave him the better angles again and again. His laser-accurate punching took a heavy toll as the fight wore on, and by the middle of round nine, the official had seen enough.

Katsidis is a testament to how well the gunslinger approach can pay off for a fighter with less than elite talent. He followed this title-shot loss against Marquez with another title shot against Robert Guerrero, in which the Ghost handed him an extremely one-sided unanimous decision loss. And now, after poleaxing Michael Lozada last August back home in Australia, he is scheduled to fight Ricky Burns tonight in London for the interim WBO belt.