Juan Manuel Marquez has been a prize fighter since May 1993. Which means that when he squares off with Marco AntonioBarrera on Saturday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, it will have taken Marquez nearly 14 years to arrive at a career-defining fight.
It takes an emotionally strong individual with incredible patience to come to grips with that. But there were two things Marquez gained on the dangerous streets of Iztapalapa – mental and physical toughness. The town just outside of Mexico City is considered one of the roughest in the area.
Juan Manuel, 33, and his younger brother Rafael, 31, were educated well by their parents. So even though they had to fight their behinds off to survive those streets, it never went any further than that.
“We had that special relationship with our parents,” Marquez said Monday at a Los Angeles news conference promoting Saturday’s fight for Barrera’s super featherweight championship. “And that’s what led us to be not bad people. My dad told us, ‘You know, this is the sport of boxing. This is the right way. And this is the bad way. And whatever you want to choose, it. But, obviously, you are going to suffer consequences.
“And we knew it was a tough neighborhood. I mean, there were fights we had to be involved in because our friends, they were fighting with other people. It was tough. But we knew what was good and wrong and we took the right way. And everything was because of a close, family relationship. Yes, I was a great son when I was little. And that’s why I’m in this position.”
But Marquez and Marquez alone has had to deal with a career that has been outstanding, yet disappointing, at the same time.
Marquez (46-3-1, 35 KOs) fought in the shadow of Barrera while both made their names fighting out of the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in the 1990s. In his first attempt to win a
featherweight championship, Marquez fought lethargically in a loss to champion Freddie Norwood in September 1999.
Marquez eventually won two of the four featherweight titles – he won a third interim belt – but he lost both permanent belts outside the ring when he was stripped of them in 2005. Adding
insult to injury, Marquez lost a decision to Chris John in March 2006 in an attempt to win back one of the belts. The fight took place in John’s native Indonesia. And according to Eric Gomez of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Marquez, the red carpet wasn’t exactly rolled out for the Marquez camp.
For example, Marquez and his team was forced to take a four-hour bus ride to the site of the fight in extreme heat. Some of the camp members became sick to their stomachs. John, on the other hand, was flown to the site via helicopter. Things like that made it difficult for Marquez to emerge victorious. Plus, he had two points deducted for low blows
Marquez has a very good chance of beating Barrera on Saturday. But even though he might be every bit as good as Barrera, his career has not gone as spectacularly, to be sure. But that can change in a hurry. That’s why Marquez said that he couldn’t care less what has transpired. He only cares about the here and now.
“I really don’t want to talk about the past,” Marquez said. “Now I’m getting the opportunity and I will take advantage of that. Everything is going fine.
One of the reasons everything is now fine is because Marquez signed with Golden Boy last August.
“I talked to Oscar before I signed a promotional agreement with him and he promised me great fights, he promised me a fight with Barrera,” Marquez said. “He said, ‘I’m going to do the impossible to make it happen.’ And I’m very thankful to Oscar because he delivered pretty fast.”
Even Golden Boy, which also promotes Barrera, did not realize it would be able to make good on its promise so quickly. But a rematch between Barrera and Manny Pacquiao fell apart because of legal issues surrounding Pacquiao and his two signed promotional agreements with Golden Boy and rival promoter Top Rank Inc.
“He had a big fight against Manny Pacquiao, but a lot of people didn’t recognize him them,” Gomez, Golden Boy matchmaker, said of Marquez. “He had a great showing. But this is the fight that he really wanted. This is what he was looking for.
“This is what he has dreamt about. When he first signed with us, we promised him that Golden Boy Promotions was going to work hard to get him the big fights, get him the big names. We weren’t sure how soon it would be, and we didn’t know that it would be this soon.”
Yes, Marquez did have a tremendous fight against Pacquiao. In what must go down as one of the most incredible demonstrations of courage in boxing history, Marquez got up from
three first-round knockdowns to earn a draw with Pacquiao in May 2004. After the third knockdown, it appeared Marquez was finished.
Not only did he get up, he schooled Pacquiao the rest of the way. There were more than a few ringside reporters who had Marquez winning.
Even Barrera couldn’t say enough about his countryman’s mettle.
“I applaud that fight,” Barrera, of Mexico City, said Monday. “I was cheering that fight. It was exciting for me. It showed us what a Mexican fighter is made of and made to do, to go down but also to get right back up.”
From the hairy streets of Iztapalapa to the politics that stink up our sport, Marquez has endured plenty. But here he is, days from the biggest fight of his life, because of great dukes and a strong emotional constitution.
“There is a saying in Mexico, ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,’ ” Marquez said. “Now, I feel excellent.”