Marquez Still Holds Anger Over Mayweather Defeat

By Miguel Rivera

Former four division champion Juan Manuel Marquez still has a bad taste in his mouth when he reflects on his twelve round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009.

The fight was agreed upon to take place at a 144-pound catch-weight to entice Marquez, who at the time was a lightweight, to move up by two weight divisions to fight Mayweather.

Márquez weighed in at 142-pounds, but Mayweather weighed in at 146-pounds - two pounds beyond the limit. There was a financial penalty in the contract which gave Marquez $300,000 for each pound over the limit.

The fight was very one-sided. Marquez was too small and too slow. He was knocked down in the second round and dominated until the end.

Marquez returned to the lightweight division after the loss.

"It was upsetting to me to see how the situation were handled, everything in favor of Mayweather, everything against me. We knew at that time that our promoter, Golden Boy, was more of a promoter to Mayweather than they were to me, but we know that does not mean that he is not a great fighter," Marquez told ESPN Deportes.

"Yes all of the adversities were against me, including the weight. He came in at 146 and for me it [took away] an advantage because it would have been hard for him to make the [agreed] weight and I was coming up from lightweight. [Making the weight] would have made him feel diminished, but it did not happen this way. They supported him, and to this day the entire situation of 2009 still angers me."