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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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