Juan Manuel Marquez Speaker & Booking Information

Juan Manuel Márquez was born August 23, 1973 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico and is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the fourth Mexican-born boxer to become a three-division world champion, where he won eight world titles in three different boxing weight classes.

Currently, Marquez is the WBA Super, WBO and The Ring Lightweight World Champion. Ring Magazine currently rates Márquez as the number five pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

Márquez moved up to the Welterweight division, and fought undefeated and former number one pound for pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight was scheduled to take place at 144 lbs[17] on July 18, 2009 at the MGM Grand arena; but was postponed due to a rib injury sustained by Mayweather. The bout was rescheduled and held on September 19, 2009. During the official weigh in for their 144 lb bout, Márquez weighed in at 142 lbs and Mayweather weighed in at 146 lbs thereby incurring a financial penalty as he was 2 pounds over the catchweight. Although, it was later found out that both parties had agreed just before the weigh-in to allow Mayweather to come in over the catchweight. Márquez looked slightly fleshy and uncomfortable with the move up in weight. Mayweather knocked him down in the 2nd round and won the fight by unanimous decision.

This was the fifth non-heavyweight fight in boxing history to sell more than one million pay-per-views, with the official HBO numbers totaling about $52 million. It was also the first fight to sell more than one million PPVs without featuring Oscar De La Hoya. Two months later, Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto would sell 1.25 million PPVs.

When asked upon his return to the lightweight division, Márquez said: "I came back to lightweight because at welterweight I lost a lot of speed".

Márquez then began negotiations for a rematch with Juan Díaz. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said the fight for Marquez's title was being planned for July 10 as the main event of an HBO PPV card. He said it would "probably" take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After his comeback in 2010, fellow Mexican boxer Erik Morales said he would like to fight Márquez. Morales returned two divisions higher in 2010, as a welterweight. However, Márquez has also stated that he would be interested in a fight with Ricky Hatton.

The Marquez-Díaz rematch took place on July 31, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay. Márquez's titles were also at stake.[20] Prior to the bout, the WBO ordered the Márquez-Díaz winner to fight mandatory challenger Michael Katsidis. Marquez won the fight via unanimous decision by the official scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 118-110. After the Díaz rematch, Márquez stated that he was interested in pursuing a third fight with Manny Pacquiao. There was also a possibility of him moving up to light welterweight to face any of the titleholders at the time: Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander or Amir Khan, all of whom were fighting on HBO.

A few weeks after the Juan Díaz fight, Golden Boy Promotions officially announced that Márquez would defend his lightweight titles against mandatory challenger, WBO interim Michael Katsidis, on November 27, 2010 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and that the bout would be televised live on HBO Championship Boxing. During the official weigh in for their 135 lb bout, Márquez came in at 134 pounds, while Katsidis came in on the limit of 135 pounds. Despite being knocked down in the third round Marquez came back and defeated Katsidis by a ninth round TKO to retain the lightweight belts. At the time of the stoppage, the Mexican boxer was ahead on all the scorecards by 77-74, 78-74, and 76-75. During the post fight interview he once again expessed his interest in a third fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Márquez holds the distinction of being the oldest champion in the history of the lightweight division.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum stated that a third meeting with Márquez could happen in November 2011, providing Pacquiao defeated his next opponent opponent Shane Mosley on May 7. On May 10, Márquez accepted an offer from Top Rank to fight Pacquiao for his WBO Welterweight Title at a catchweight of 144 pounds. On May 18, Márquez signed the deal to fight Pacquiao for the third time on November 12 at Las Vegas.