By Dan Ambrose: After a year out of the ring due to a right knee problem, the soon to be 42-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) still doesn’t know when he’ll fight again. Marquez has pain in his right knee that flares up when he starts training, and he says it’s not something that can be fixed with surgery.
Marquez says his knee problems are due to the wear and tear of a long career in the ring. Marquez’s knee problems are keeping him from potentially making a lot of money in fights against other big names in the sport.
At some point Marquez is going to need to make a decision whether to retire or fight with the pain still there. Marquez hasn’t fought since May of 2014 in beating Mike Alvarado. If the pain hasn’t gone away after this much time, then there’s a possibility that it will continue into the future. If surgery isn’t an option for Marquez then he’ll need to endure the pain or choose to hang up his gloves and retire from the sport.
“When I’m training, I feel good, but I suddenly my knee starts to hurt and that demoralizes me, “said Marquez to desportes.univision.com. “You cannot operate, it is caused by wear and tear and years of training; I use exercises to strengthen the muscles and take some supplements to rehabilitate my knee.”
If Marquez were to return to the ring in 2016, he could make good money in fights against the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Kell Brook and Amir Khan. A rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. is unlikely due to Marquez’s one-sided loss to the American star in 2009. But someone like Pacquiao would obviously like a chance to fight Marquez before he hangs up his gloves so that he can avenge his loss to him from 2012.
Marquez knocked Pacquiao out cold in the 6th round of that fight in an impressive victory. It was the fourth time that the two had fought each other after three previous fights in which Pacquiao had won two of them with one of them being a 12 round draw. Marquez, who was unhappy with the scoring for those fights, decided he wasn’t going to let the judges play any part in the fourth fight, and that’s why he chose to KO the Filipino fighter.
Marquez isn’t a true welterweight, and he’ll have a tough time if he comes back in 2016 and tries to beat some of the top names. The combination of age and inactivity will likely give Marquez problems when or if he returns to the ring. If all he wants to do is fight a farewell fight against a beatable fringe contender or 2nd tier guy, then Marquez should have no problems doing that as well as he’s willing to endure the knee pain in his right knee.
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