By Michael Marley
When he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009, a completely frustrated Juan Manuel Marquez looked like a weary veteran fighter heading for boxing's dustbin. There were times when Mayweather made Marquez looked like a guy caught in a revolving door.
But now, four fights and three victories later, the age 39 in August Mexican counterpuncher looks like the classic automobile that's been given a thorough tune-up and a fresh coat of paint.
Marquez has rebuilt himself from the one-sided Mayweather defeat with solid victories over Michael Kastidis, Juan Diaz, Likar Ramos and Sergey Federenko mixed in with a highly debatable majority decision points loss to Manny Pacquiao.
You might be surprised by Marquez's resilience and apparent mass popularity in his homeland of Mexico but Marquez-Beltran associate Bob Arum says he is not.
"JuanMa is a solid citizen," the 80 year old head of Top Rank told me Thursday night. "Unlike a lot of athletes, he's not out in the nightclubs. He's a family man and he stays well conditioned at all times.
"It's not like Marquez just needs the money or has no other career, either," Arum said. "Don't forget that he is an accountant, he has another career, so he's not like all the boxers who don't know what else they can turn to."
Despite Marquez's revived career, Arum said we'll never find out if Pacman could perform at such a high level at a similar age.
"Pacquiao's going to turn what, 34? Manny Pacquiao told me he will only fight Tim Bradley (June 9 in Las Vegas) and then three more times after that. I believe Manny on this. He will not be fighting at the age that JuanMa is fighting now.
"Manny will fight again in November and then twice next year. That's it, end of story. I keep saying it but, when he becomes governor of Sarangani Province, Manny will have more daily responsibilities than he does as a congressman now.
"That executive position will be a lot more work for Manny than what he faces now."
It might seem that TR was stuck with a lemon on Saturday's PPV card, first with Yuriorkis Gamboa declining the dream matchup with Brandon Bam Bam Rios and then with another Rios misadventure on the weigh-in scales, but Arum said they turned it into lemonade.
"In Mexico City, Juan Ma sold out the new arena, all 23,000 seats," Arum said. "I think that in Mexico right now, Marquez is even more popular than young Chavez and Canelo (Alvarez).
"We did very well on this pay-per-view. Now Rios has looked better in the past but I thought he won seven rounds to five over (Richard) Abril. The ref, Vic Drakulich, let Abril hold and clinch way too much. I don't know what was wrong with the ref," Arum said.
"But Mike Alvarado looked great in a very good fight. And (Filipino Mercito) Gesta looked good."
As to who Marquez will tab as his July 14 Cowboys Stadium main event foe -- crowd-pleasers Alvarado or Rios or unbeaten southpaw Gesta -- Arum said he is unsure.
"Beltran will meet with JuanMa this weekend on this," Arum said. "It all depends on what Marquez say, what he decides to do."
