Less than two years ago, between a humid Christmas and the early signs of Central American summer, one heavily populated borough of Mexico City clocked a distressing 184 homicides.
Iztapalapa, the ancient Aztec city, breeds its residents tough because anything else could see them vulnerable or in serious danger. Theirs is a life spent fighting to survive; it is constant ducking and diving, avoiding confrontation or fraternising with the ‘wrong crowd’, clutching onto the hope of a better life.
Those odds are usually unfathomably slim. But some do escape, breaking the cycle, and two fighting siblings put the city on the map during a purple patch for Mexican boxing that stretched across two decades.
Four-weight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) fancied his chances of securing a more profitable future, emerging from the neighbourhood to cement his name in Mexican boxing history. Bouts with Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Marco Antonio Barrera and Timothy Bradley made Marquez a household name. But it all started on those troubled, tyrannous streets.
to win the WBC super-featherweight crown. Photo: WBC.
“It’s true, I grew up in the Iztapalapa district and I’m the fifth of seven Marquez brothers,” Marquez told Boxing Social. “And we grew up in a very dangerous neighbourhood. But with the strong hand [of discipline] and the education of both of my parents, we never deviated and life didn’t go that way for us.”
Early life spent with so many brothers naturally bred competition. Achievements weren’t just achievements – they were either matched or surpassed by family – and the need to excel became paramount. Rafael Marquez, a year Juan Manuel’s junior, would go on to capture his own world titles at bantamweight and super-bantamweight. But it wasn’t quite the same.
Speaking to Boxing Social with the help of translation from Farith Puente, ‘Dinamita’ spoke of their boxing lineage: “We started boxing because my father was a boxer and he began to teach us this tough sport and, when entering the gym for the first time, my nerves were definitely at their best,” he said.
“The sport of boxing was everything to me – it still is. And always for me, the most important thing was maintaining strong ethics and [having] a true love for the sport. I was blessed with very good, very tough rivals at the beginning of my career, and that helped me see that a career in boxing was not going to be easy.”
He took a while to find his feet however, actually losing his professional debut in 1993 by way of disqualification. Marquez had knocked down the wily Javier Duran twice, but was struck out by the referee for head-butting his overmatched opponent. Just one of many bumps in the road.
Following that defeat, an inspired Marquez pieced together an unbeaten stretch that lasted 2,296 days with all roads leading to his first shot at securing world honours – the WBA featherweight title. The opponent was Freddie Norwood and the contest was staged in the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas.
A young Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Carlos Gerena on the same card, and the pair experienced mixed fortunes, with ‘Pretty Boy’ prevailing via a seventh-round retirement. Little did Marquez know, he’d be fighting Mayweather as a PPV attraction in years to come.
For Iztapalapa’s most successful son, it was disappointment on a far greater stage than he’d experienced on his debut in that tiny venue in Mexico City. The judges scored the fight in Norwood’s favour, with Marquez telling Boxing Social, “Both that first defeat in my career [to Javier Duran], and the robbery I suffered against Freddie Norwood at my first opportunity to fight for the world championship, those were very sad occasions for me. But those both helped me to become stronger, and I always remembered that I could never give up.”
Bouncing back from some of boxing’s unexpected, even unjust, blows became second nature for Marquez. He would have to wait four years – and 10 more wins – before earning a second bite at the cherry.
In total, it had been a decade since he made the walk to the professional ring for the first time; he was 29 years old, something often forgotten when weighing up his success that followed. Marquez knew he was destined to achieve something significant, but time was marching on for an uncrowned and avoided featherweight menace.
The tough Manuel Medina stood in the opposite corner of the ring at the Mandalay Bay that night – by then, a veteran of 72 fights and past his best (despite going on to capture another world title against Scott Harrison later that year). The venue only held bitter memories for Marquez. After seven rounds though, Medina was stopped comfortably by a relentless Marquez, who pierced and punished the former champion at will.
It was ‘Dinamita’ at his finest; counter-punching and piecing together fluid, flawless combinations. It was also the start of a sensational career amongst the sport’s top fighters, with Marquez quite clear when Boxing Social asked who the best he’d faced was: “The most difficult opponent of my career was Manny Pacquiao, for sure.”
Four fights with Pacquiao and countless world title defences, challenges and victories followed for Marquez. He fought them all. But after exacting definitive, destructive revenge over the still-active Filipino in their last bout, the end was nigh.
Only two fights would come after; a narrow loss to Timothy Bradley way up at welterweight (L12, Oct 2013) and a comparatively hollow victory over Mike Alvarado for a lesser title (W12, May 2014). It was over, 21 years after it started. But it wasn’t supposed to finish that way.
“Did I know that would be my last?”, Marquez asked, rhetorically. “No, I didn’t know that I’d never fight again. I wanted to have one, last retirement fight, but my body blamed me for all the years that I lasted in this sport. Serious injuries began and [happened] very often, so that gave no choice but to take the decision to retire from boxing.”
Retirement hasn’t hit the 46-year-old as hard as some of his peers and he was thankful that other opportunities presented themselves shortly after hanging up his gloves – but the adoration of his fans was important, even with the passing of time.
He explained to Boxing Social that he was happy working, but his reputation between the ropes still meant everything. “Now I work for ESPN México on a boxing programme that airs every Friday and, with that, I have partly replaced the years [of dedication] I had shown when I was fighting,” he said.
“I would just like boxing fans everywhere to remember me as a great warrior, and remember that I never gave up and always looked for victory.”
Marquez spent a large portion of his career playing second fiddle to powerful, promotional money-makers. His career is riddled with achievements, namely world titles in four weight classes from 126lbs to 140lbs. His four-part epic with fellow, future HOF champion Manny Pacquiao has steered his narrative, but Marquez was so much more.
Now, after escaping one of Mexico’s murder capitals with the love of a good family, he’s the leading man in whatever he decides to do next. He has cast his own shadow far wider than Iztapalapa and even further than Mexico City, where he now resides with his wife and family. It wasn’t done through bad-mouthing opponents or taking shortcuts; it was years of toiling and finding ways to overcome multiple, potentially crushing roadblocks.
Marquez lost his first professional fight and first world title fight, but he will always be remembered as a winner and a genuine champion. He should take comfort in that.
Main image: After three hotly-disputed decisions, Marquez finally gained his reward with a crushing sixth round KO of nemesis Manny Pacquiao in December 2012. Photo: Top Rank.