By Chris Williams: Former three division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) will reportedly be retiring at the end of 2012, according to fightnews.com. The 38-year-old Marquez’s family want him to retire from boxing, and he feels he’s done enough in the sport after 19 years as a pro. Marquez will be fighting unbeaten Argentinian Cesar Rene Cuenca (42-0, 1 KO’s) for the interim WBO light welterweight title on April 21st in a still to be determined venue in Mexico.
Marquez hopes to get a final fight against Manny Pacquiao after that the Cuenca bout if he can get past that fight. If Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum say no to the idea of facing Marquez, then he could end up facing Mercito Gesta.
Marquez has made a lot of money in his three fights with Pacquiao and his one fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. He’s made enough to retire and live well for the rest of his life. But Marquez still wants a final bout against Pacquiao in order to finally beat him after having lost two out of the three fights he’s had with the Filipino star. Their first fight in 2004 ended in a controversial 12 round draw.
The second fight in 2008 saw Pacquiao win by a highly disputed 12 round split decision, and their third fight last November resulted with Pacquiao winning a controversial 12 round majority decision. A great deal of the fans that saw those fights saw Marquez winning all three of them. Indeed, Marquez won more rounds than Paquiao and appeared to dominate the action. I’m not sure what it is about Marquez’s style but he gives Pacquiao huge problems each time he faces him. It’s really all that surprising that Pacquiao and Arum chose to fight Timothy Bradley next rather than facing Marquez for a fourth time and ending with another controversial decision wins.
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