By Jim Dower: Former two division world champion Rafael Marquez (40-7, 36 KO’s) will be looking to get his career back together next month on May 5th against 31-year-old featherweight Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-2-2, 4 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout in a still to be determined venue in Tijuana, Mexico.

Marquez, 37, has been struggling as of late having lost four out of his last seven fights since 2007. Marquez, a former IBF bantamweight and WBC super bantamweight champion, has lost to good fighters in each case with two defeats against Israel Vazquez, a loss to Juan Manuel Lopez and Toshiaki Nishioka. It’s all well and good that Marquez, #3 WBC, #8 WBO, is only losing to quality fighters at the upper world class level, but the fact remains that he’s still losing to those guys. That’s not good because Marquez was at the highest level not too long ago, but it looks as if the affects of time and too many ring wars has eroded his skills just enough to where he’s having problems beating the best.

Yamaguchi is certainly a beatable fighter. He lost his last fight to WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido last year in July by an 11th round TKO defeat in Sonora, Mexico. Yamaguchi took a lot of punishment in that fight and it really should have been stopped as early as the 6th because Yamaguchi wasn’t competitive.

Marquez was beaten in his last fight against October to WBC super bantamweight champion Nishioka by a close 12 round decision. Nishioka was considered to be the best fighter in the super bantamweight division at the time that Marquez fought him. It was a good performance by Marquez but not quite enough for him to get the win due to him fading a little late in the bout.

Marquez was stopped by former WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in a 8th round injury stoppage in November 2010.

Marquez will likely beat Yamaguchi with ease but that won’t prove much. Marquez’s problems will be what will he do against champions like Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeaux. Those guys seem to be a cut above Marquez at this late stage in his career.