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Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez born August 23, 1973 in Mexico City is a Mexican professional boxer and the reigning world WBC Super Featherweight defending champion.Márquez was the WBO number one contender for two years while Naseem Hamed was the WBO featherweight champion. To Hamed's credit, he did offer Márquez a fight in the summer of 2000, but Márquez declined. Márquez ended up getting a title shot against Freddie Norwood for the WBA Featherweight Title. He was knocked down in the fight, but himself scored a knockdown on Norwood yet came up short in a decision loss.It took Márquez another 4 years to get a second title shot. His second shot came against Manuel Medina in 2003 for the Vacant IBF Featherweight Title, and Márquez having been the superior fighter throughout and ahead on all three judges cards,stopped the game veteran in the 7th round. He then defeated Derrick Gainer later in the year to win the WBA title.Márquez then accepted an offer to fight Manny Pacquiao in May of 2004. In a thrilling Fight Of The Year candidate, Márquez was knocked down three times in the first round, but gamely fought back to win many of the remaining rounds. Fans hotly debate who deserved the win, but the official result was a draw. Although this was a ploy for more money in rematch negotiations, Erik Morales stepped into the negotiations with his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions, which also promoted Márquez, and Márquez was undercut in the negotiations. This was due largely to the fact that a fight between Morales and Pacquiao would bring in larger profits for Top Rank and stir the imagination of more fight fans, due to Morales' then recent loss to Marco Antonio Barrera.In 2005 he was stripped of his IBF belt for his inability to defend against the respective number one contender of the organization, Phafrakorb Rakkietgym, after the bout failed to draw a bid, and due to the WBA "super" world championship rules, Márquez lost his WBA belt as well. In 2006, Márquez attempted to regain a title, coming up short in a controversial decision loss to Chris John of Indonesia in Chris John's home country for the WBA featherweight championship—this disputed decision led to The Ring magazine's removal of Márquez from its pound-for-pound top 10 list.In late 2006 Márquez captured the interim WBO Featherweight Title with an exciting TKO of Terdsak Jandaeng and defended it against Filipino boxer Jimrex Jaca with a 9th round KO in late November of 2006 in Hidalgo, Texas. The interim bout was created due to Scott Harrison's absence from the ring due to personal issues. Since his controversial loss to Chris John, Marquez has modified his highly-skilled and intelligent counter-punching style to include more offense. At 33 years old, one must ask the question of how long Márquez can remain at the top of his game and move forward in the boxing world. On March 17, 2007 Márquez became the WBC Super Featherweight Champion by defeating Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas by unanimous decision. Next bout up is Marquez Vs. Rocky Juarez which has been rescheduled to Nov. 3rd 2007 for the WBC Super Featherweight Championship. The undercard will feature Robert Guerrero Vs. Matin Hinorio.Free MySpace Layouts and Free MySpace Stuff