Marquez cements his place in the pantheon of Mexican boxing greats

With less than two seconds left in the 6th round, Juan Manuel Marquez cemented his legacy as one of Mexico’s all-time great fighters by knocking out Manny Pacquiao to conclude one of boxing’s greatest rivalries. It was an epic fight in which we saw two historically great fighters put on a display of boxing at an unbelievably elite level. Pacquiao came out sharp from the on-set, demonstrating effective aggressiveness and Marquez, as always, showed that he could deal with the relentless pressure of Pacquiao. Going into the sixth round, both men had been knocked down once but it was clear Pacquiao had the momentum as he looked to finish the fight early only to run into a wall. It was a beautifully placed counter right hand that sent Pacquiao face first to the canvas and left him there, unconscious.

Not only did Marquez knockout an all-time great (ATG) in Manny Pacquiao but he did so on a night where “Pacman” was elite-like. This was not a washed up, shot, over the hill fighter but rather an ATG on a 16 fight win-streak (not including the Bradley fight) who seemingly had never come close to being hurt in the ring during his historic run to the top of the boxing world. Pacquiao climbed the boxing divisional ladder from junior flyweight (108 pounds) to welterweight (147 pounds), gaining pounds, victories, championships and boxing immortality along the way. Every step of the way, Marquez proved to be the thorn on Pacquiao’s side.

The saying goes, “to be the best, you have to beat the best”. Marquez has done it (four times now in my opinion) eliminating all doubts as to which fighter is better, head-to-head. Styles make fights and the fact that Marquez bested Pacquiao does not mean that he historically ranks or will be ranked higher than Pacquiao because what Pacquiao accomplished, very few have ever done.

But where does this victory place Marquez, specifically in the pantheon of Mexican boxing greats? Juan Manuel has certainly now clearly catapulted himself above fellow Mexican greats and contemporaries, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. The knockout of Pacquiao and consequential win by Marquez ranks as the greatest single victory in Mexican boxing history surpassing Salvador Sanchez’s knockout win over Wilfredo Gomez in 1981. Taking into account Marquez’s knockout win over Pacquiao and his entire resume which includes world titles at four different weight classes (five if you include the Pacquiao win at welterweight), it is not a stretch to say that Juan Manuel Marquez stands alone as the greatest fighter in Mexican boxing history surpassing Ruben Olivares, Salvador Sanchez, and dare I say Julio Cesar Chavez.

 

Correction: In the pantheon of "Boxing" greats.

 

Yup Jcc is the only who ranks ahead of him, people forget this pacquiao ko ranks higher then any of pacs wins at ww.


Jcc
marquez
the rest

 

Ever heard of Vicente Saldivar?Or Salvador Sanchez?Or Ruben Olivares?

Maybe you're a new fan and dont know who any of those guys are so you're excused by your ignorance but you probably know who Erik Morales is right? and if you think JMM ranks higher than Morales then YDSAB.

 

I'm still at a loss for words.

The way Marquez beat Pacquaio was the stuff of legend.

 

I still got prime Morales ahead of him.
I think he has eclipsed MAB though, then again maybe if MAB got with Angel he might have beaten Khan.

 

H2H Marquez vs Morales is an argument worth having, where they rank all-time in MX boxing history not so much. I think JMM is now clearly over Morales.

 

It certainly is a stretch, AP3RE2.

Timing has to be taken into account in this sport to give victories and defeats proper context. When was the last time Manny Pacquiao looked infallible? Formidable, even? I'd say that you'd have to rewind all the way back to the Miguel Cotto fight to watch Manny Pacquiao and think to yourself, "wow, this guy really is a force of nature". I'm not suggesting Pacquiao is a spent force, far from it, but there's a basis to suggest he has deteriorated as a fighter over these last few years. Tremendous victory? Absolutely. The greatest in Mexican Boxing history? Debatable.

Also, JMM's resume outside of his victory over Manny Pacquiao is relatively thin, and certainly what I'd consider underwhelming for a man who's now being hailed as perhaps the greatest fighter to come from Mexico. Julio Cesar Chavez, for example, won six different world titles in three weight categories, seeing off at least 15 different world champions during a 25 year career. He holds records for most successful consecutive defenses of world titles, most title fights, most title-fight victories and he is tied with Joe Louis for most title defenses won by knockout. Chavez also has the longest undefeated streak in boxing history, 13 years. And let's face it, from an ability standpoint, JCC did most things better than JMM.

Great victory, great fighter, but JMM is a long way from overthrowing the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez.

 

Don't really see how you can argue that Morales has a far superior resume in my opinion.

Would have been nice to see Marquez fight another great outside of Manny, but the only other "greats" you could say he fought he lost to, that was floyd and Chris John.

I mean he beat a shot Casamayor, so I won't include that. MAB was shot as well.

 

Morales lost to David Diaz and Zahir Raheem...I would not say his resume is far superior.

Casamayor might not have been in his prime but he was not shot.

Mayweather is superior to anyone Morales ever faced so there is no shame in losing to him.

 

Morales was way out of his prime when he lost to Diaz and Zahir.
Casa was shot, dude had already lost to Santa Cruz by this point.

Never said anything was wrong with losing to Floyd.

I notice you ignored the Chris John loss as well.

Outside of Manny, most greats he has fought from his gen who are in their prime beat him.

 

Good stuff.

Chavez has the numbers to beat out any Mexican or non-Mexican fighter for that matter but what needs to be considered is the level of opposition he faced (and beat) as compared to Marquez.

In terms of ability I don't think Chavez is as superior to Marquez as you think.

 

So I take it you're discounting, DLH, Mosley, Hernandez, Cotto, Gatti etc out of Floyd's record.:think

 

Morales was not way out of his prime when he lost to Zahir.

 

Incredible how we didnt get the Morales-Marquez fight. Prime for prime