Juan Manuel Marquez To Retire From Boxing

On a day when former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko announced his retirement from the sport, another legendary fighter is going to walk away from the ring.

According to ESPN Deportes, former four division world champion, Juan Manuel Marquez, one of the greatest Mexican boxers of all time, is going to announce his retirement from professional boxing at the age of 43 years and 11 months. Marquez is ending a career that began on May 29, 1993, and in a few more years he will find himself in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Marquez saw action for the last time in May of 2014, when he won a twelve round unanimous decision over former world champion Mike Alvarado in an HBO televised main event from Los Angeles, California.

Since that bout, he was plagued with a lingering knee issue that took two years to fully recover from.

He began training earlier this year for a planned ring return, but suffered a shoulder injury. Several other planned return were postponed for a variety of reasons.

The crowning jewel of his career was the fourth meeting with career rival Manny Pacquiao in the fall of 2012 – which saw Marquez close the book on their series of bouts by landing the perfect sixth round counter to knock Pacquiao out cold. He was offered a fortune to engage Pacquiao in a fifth contest – but rejected every advance. Their first bout in 2004 ended in a draw, with controversial decision wins by Pacquiao in 2008 and 2011.

His career was crafted by Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristáin. He fought only 10 times on Mexican soil, 53 times in the United States and once in Indonesia. He was world featherweight champion, with further titles won at super featherweight, lightweight and super lightweight. He had 18 title fights.

Among his key career opponents were Pacquiao, Manuel Medina, Orlando Salido, Chris John, Marco Antonio Barrera, Joel Casamayor, Juan Diaz, Floyd Mayweather and Timothy Bradley.

Marquez will leave the sport with a magnificent career and a professional record of 56 wins, 40 of them via knockouts, with seven defeats and a draw.

See the interview on the video below