Bradley vs. Marquez: Mexican Legend Must Retire After Major Loss

It's time for Juan Manuel Marquez to hang up the gloves.

The Mexican legend was defeated by Timothy Bradley on Saturday night in an HBO pay-per-view bout via a 12-round split decision.

Since then, Marquez has done nothing but make excuses and play the victim card. He made it clear to the media after the fight, via Ryan Maquinana of the The Guardian, that he was not pleased with the outcome: "To be here in Vegas, I need to knock the person out to get a victory. Unfortunately, I need to be scared of the judges more than my opponent."

As much as Marquez wants to cry foul, he truly was the victim: Bradley picked him apart throughout the contest, as ESPN illustrates:

Marquez has every right to be upset with himself for the outcome, but projecting the blame on everyone outside of himself is the wrong move.

Perhaps Marquez's post-fight antics are compensation for knowing he lost an unnecessary fight and further tainting his legacy.

In no way did Marquez need the fight with Bradley to improve his already stellar career. At 40 years old, Marquez is known as one of boxing's best counter-punchers and is easily on his way to the Hall of Fame, even with the loss to Bradley, which moves his record to 55-7-1 (40 KOs).

Bradley had little issue dancing around Marquez's advances, as Bradley took a much different approach than the aggressive one he employed against Ruslan Provodnikov earlier in the year that resulted in him almost being knocked out twice.

As a result, Marquez was forced out of his comfort zone. While he was able to land shots (especially in a late surge), Bradley's chin held up well under his opponent's power punches.

Most importantly, Marquez looked gassed in the second half of the fight, with the inevitable factor known as age finally rearing its ugly head.

At this point in his career, he has nothing left to prove and remains one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, so perhaps the motive is lucrative financial rewards for big fights. That, or Marquez is approaching the delusional stage in regard to where he stands against young competitors.

He has developed a reputation as a notorious sore loser and made a huge mistake in accepting less money to fight Bradley ($6 million guaranteed per ESPN's Dan Rafael), when he could have had a fifth bout with Manny Pacquiao for more cash.

So yes, Marquez has every right to be agitated and understands that his legacy is suffering, but excuses won't change that.

It won't be going out on top like Marquez would probably prefer, but now is the time for him to exit the stage before he can make further mistakes in and outside of the ring to worsen his legacy and record. 

Follow B/R's Chris Roling on Twitter for more news and analysis @Chris_Roling