What does Marquez' legacy look like without Manny Pacquiao?

Nowhere even close to an all-time great. He'd be considered merely a good fighter, one who would likely be overlooked.

I think Hopkins was the third best of his era, but without Marquez, I think he'd be viewed as such completely unanimously.

 

He didn’t lose to Barrera, Diaz, Casamayor. Hard to really hold the Bradley loss against him as he was 40. Same as the Mayweather fight. That was a money grab.

Unified titles at 126 against pretty good guys in Gainer and Medina. Lineal and #1 at 130, then unified and lineal at 135 all to go with his supreme skill set and the fact he arguably deserved to win the first and second Pacquaio fights and got totally ripped off in fight III. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he didn’t need the Pacquaio IV KO to be great. He’d been an outstanding performer for over a decade prior.

 

Barrera??

 

Yeah, Juan Manuel Marquez fought Marco Antonio Barrera in 2007 to win the WBC super featherweight title and then lost that to Manny Pacquiao. Damn shame that Marquez vs Morales never happened.

 

Still a top 5 Mexican champion of all times, which is pretty high on any p4p list, in and of itself....
With the Pac fights he is top 3.
He fought better comp then JCC in my opinion so I rate him above JCC.
He's probably fought better opposition then Canelo but Canelo is more spectacular and he's just flat out more popular.

 

I love Kenny Norton, but it's not like Marquez is just Kenny Norton here. Kenny Norton had a mustache. A good mustache. But Marquez was probably the only guy who should've had a win over the Dragon until he was way past it. Hopkins couldn't even slay the Dragon. Every man has a dragon in life. The Dragon is a beast for all seasons. A foe to be vanquished, a luck to be endured, better or worse, a liver to be lived, or wurst. Hopkins was a good fighter but he lost decisively to his Pacquiao and his Pacquiao was just an overrated Pacquiao who never faced a Marquez. Who also lost to his own Dragon. Mustache.

 

Who was Hopkin's dragon? Calzaghe? Kovalev?

 

I am not aware of Kovalev's dragonity. But Joe was the Italian Dragon. Those are dangerous. The common misconception is that the breath has flames but the "flames" are actually fumes that come from a stinking bulb they like to eat over there where his family is from.

 

The fire rises-

 

It’ll be like Aaron Pryor without Alexis Arguello, or Sandy Saddler without Willie Pep to some extent. Although to be honest even without Pac I think JMM would still rate higher than Pryor. Sometimes you just need the right style against the right opponent (and in this case, becoming a kryptonite to an ATG) to help boost your ATG status.