by Richard McManus

The boxing story of Juan Manuel Marquez reads like the real life chapters of many of us. Some incredible drama, a few mistakes, comebacks, boring times, lots of hard work and a long struggle for recognition.

All this said, the most significant characteristic to define Marquez’s boxing career so far has been his apparent unwillingness to take the risks that are necessary both in and out of the ring to achieve long term top status.

Many fans and experts have long believed Marquez to be skilled and talented enough to be a consistent Top 5 Pound-for-Pound fighter.  So what happened?

He’s 4-1-1 in his last four fights dating back almost three years.  This period is bracketed by a knockdown, drag-out brawl with Manny Pacquaio and a nine round technical destruction victory over contender Jimrex Jaca.

In the middle of that span is his decision loss to the awkward and jumpy Chris John, a fight which saw Marquez earn somewhere in the $30,000 range while traveling to Indonesia and the home turf of his opponent.

I was able to view that bout and I can say with confidence that Marquez did enough to win that fight by landing the bigger punches and controlling the ring with his technical style.  But the fight was close enough, I suppose, and John still holds the WBA belt and has defended it twice since with decision wins.

In the John fight, Marquez was twice deducted a point for hitting John low, the second deduction resulting from a punch that appeared to land on John’s arm, if it landed at all.

But the fact that Marquez was even in a position to lose the fight to John by way of the scorecards was a testament to the poor decision-making and the apparently less than competent management Marquez has subjected himself to.

So now he’s promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and he gets a fight with Marco Antonio Barrera: A fight that made perfect sense about seven years ago.

Back around the turn of the century, Barrera was fighting the likes of Erik Morales and Naseem Hamed, Morales taking on guys like Barrera and Junior Jones and Hamed was fighting opponents like Kevin Kelley and Barrera.

For one reason or another, Marquez was unable or unwilling to inject himself into the mix of the elite featherweights despite the fact that most educated observers felt he belonged there.   For a time, it seemed as if Marquez existed in a parallel universe from the elite Featherweights.  Not only did he not get fights with the likes of Barrera, Morales or Hamed, but he was rarely even mentioned as an opponent despite being the mandatory contender for Hamed.

During this era (roughly bracketed by his showdown with Freddie Norwood in 1999 and the Derrick Gainer fight in late 2003) Marquez solidified his reputation as both a destructive ring technician and a hesitant prizefighter.

In 1999, Marquez squared off with the 35-0-1 Freddie Norwood for Norwood’s WBA Featherweight belt.  When the final bell rang, Norwood earned a gusty, but boring defensive decision win over Marquez.  He simply did more (which wasn’t much) than Marquez, to retain his belt.

Marquez refused to take the necessary chances to capture the championship in the Norwood fight.  Truth be told, to the observer, it appeared as if Marquez refused to take any chances.  It is true that Norwood is a southpaw but just for the record, so were two of the three fighters Marquez faced prior to Norwood.

For the next three years he struggled to get another title shot, earning knockout wins over the likes of Robbie Peden and Manuel Medina along the way.  The title shot finally came against alphabet soup Featherweight champion Derrick Gainer.

It was apparent throughout the proceedings that Gainer wanted absolutely no part of Juan Manuel who earned a Technical Decision win and a championship belt while Gainer earned the reputation of a boxer that isn’t afraid to run a bit in the ring.

Then came the Pacquaio fight.  Marquez was down three times in the first round but came back valiantly in the final 11, exposing the green Pacquaio as a one-dimensional fighter and falling back on the boxing fundamentals in which he is so well schooled.

But instead of using the drama and exposure of the draw with Pacquaio to catapult himself into the forefront of boxing consciousness he took on the likes of Orlando Salido, Victor Polo and the aforementioned Chris John before nearly slipping into boxing obscurity.

Two recent knockout wins over relative unknowns Terdsak Jandaeng and Jimrex Jaca have, if nothing else, reminded fans of Marquez’s considerable skill and talent.

And now the Barrera fight.

What it amounts to at this point are two fighters from the last generation of Featherweights, squaring off about seven years too late.  Barrera legacy is established while Marquez’s legacy is still up for debate and subject to determination.

Two fighters that have seemingly existed in parallel universes from one another finally getting together.  Two elite fighters near the top of their game stepping through the ropes to square off in what should be a meaningful fight.  But is it?  Or is it too late for Marquez?

It’s still up to him.

Contact Richard at rmcm12@hotmail.com