Rafael Márquez Méndez (born 25 March 1975) is a Mexican former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 1995 to 2013. He is a two-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

title from 2003 to 2007; and the WBC, and ''Ring'' magazine

super bantamweight Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...

titles in 2007. He also held the IBO bantamweight title from 2005 to 2007, and challenged once for

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title in 2011. Márquez was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

as part of the class of 2023. Márquez was known for his formidable

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

power and relentless

pressure fighting Throughout the history of gloved boxing styles, techniques and strategies have changed to varying degrees. Ring conditions, promoter demands, teaching techniques, and the influence of successful boxers are some of the reasons styles and strategies ...

style. His older brother

Juan Manuel Márquez Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez (born August 23, 1973) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from featherweight to light welte ...

is also a former professional boxer and multiple-time world champion.

Professional career

Márquez began his professional boxing career with an eighth-round knockout loss to former WBC Bantamweight champion Victor Rabanales.BoxRec.com editors
"Rafael Marquez."
BoxRec.com.

URL A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...

accessed 5 July 2006. He gained recognition by defeating two division world champion and future hall of fame member Mark Johnson (40-1-0) by a split decision. In a rematch, Márquez knocked out Johnson in the eighth round in an IBF bantamweight title eliminator bout.

Bantamweight

On February 15, 2003, he came from behind to knock out

Tim Austin Timothy Austin (born April 14, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. He is now a coach at the Cincinnati Golden Gloves gym in Cincinnati. Amateur career Austin had an outstanding amateur career, compiling a record of 113–9. Amateu ...

(25-0-1) to claim the IBF Bantamweight title, in what was considered to be a big upset. Austin had been undefeated in 10 title fights until that loss. Márquez went on to successfully defend his title seven times. His notable title defenses were two victories over former light flyweight champion Mauricio Pastrana, a decision win over Ricardo Vargas and two knockout victories over former as well as future IBO Bantamweight champion

Silence Mabuza Silence Mabuza (born 18 September 1977 in Tsakane, South Africa) is a professional boxer in the bantamweight (118 lb) division, and as of 6 Jan. 2008, is a former two time holder of the International Boxing Organization's world Bantamweight ti ...

, whom he defeated for the second time on August 5, 2006 in his final defense.

Super Bantamweight

Márquez moved up a weight division to challenge and defeat WBC and lineal super bantamweight champion

Israel Vázquez Israel Vázquez Castañeda (December 25, 1977 – December 3, 2024) was a Mexican professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2010. He was a three-time super bantamweight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation, IBF tit ...

in seven rounds. However, in a rematch in July 2007, Márquez lost his title after being defeated by Vázquez in the sixth round when the referee stopped the fight. The rematch was named the 2007

fight of the year Fight of the Year is an award given to the boxing match considered to be the best fight that year. It is awarded by a variety of different institutions. It may refer to: * ''The Ring'' magazine Fight of the Year – awarded by ''The Ring'' magazi ...

. In the rubber match of their trilogy, Rafael lost a split decision, with scores of 113-112 and 114-111 to Vázquez, with one judge seeing it 114-111 for Márquez. Márquez may not have lost this bout if not for a point deduction for a low blow in the tenth round. Marquez and promoter Gary Shaw claimed that the punch was on the belt line and should not have elicited any deductions. Márquez was able to knock Vázquez down for the first time in the trilogy in this third fight, but Vázquez in turn put Márquez down in the final seconds of the 12th round, securing the victory and giving Márquez his fifth defeat. Márquez was ranked number three in ''The Ring'' magazine's pound-for-pound rankings.''The Ring'' editors
''The Ring'' Ratings.
3 July 2006 ''The Ring'' URL accessed 5 July 2006. and ranked as the Ring Magazine's number one Bantamweight boxer. He later became the top ranked boxer in the Super Bantamweight division before his loss to Vázquez.

Featherweight

Márquez was inactive for over a year as he recuperated from the trilogy with Vázquez. On May 23, 2009, he returned to the ring by scoring a 3rd-round TKO over José Francisco Mendoza (21-2-2) in the featherweight division. In the first week of May 2010, Márquez announced his 4th and final match with Israel Vásquez. After three epic battles, Vázquez and Márquez fought for a fourth time on May 22, 2010 at the

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The bout was appropriately titled "Once and Four All" and carried live by Showtime. Márquez scored a third-round TKO victory over Vázquez to even their series at two wins each. Afterwards, Márquez stated; "The fifth one could be a possibility if the fans vote for it. That is what I live for. Israel Vásquez is a great fighter." In his next fight, he was scheduled to challenge undefeated WBO Featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez on September 18, 2010, however, the fight had to be postponed by several weeks when Márquez suffered a thumb injury which prevented him from training. Márquez would ultimately lose the bout by 8th-round TKO after he was unable to continue due to a shoulder injury. After the fight, Márquez said that he had chosen to proceed with the bout despite a right shoulder injury suffered before the contest because he did not wish to cause a second delay. According to Márquez, he re-aggravated that injury in the third round during a flurry of punches. He also expressed his eagerness to face Lopez in a rematch. It was later revealed that Márquez had suffered a hairline fracture in his right

shoulder blade The scapula (: scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either side ...

during the fight and would require 6 months to recover from the injury.

Return to Super Bantamweight

On 16 July 2011, Márquez made his comeback in

Cancún Cancún is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat of the municipality of Benito J ...

on the same card as his brother, Juan Manuel, against Eduardo Becerril. Both fights were tune-ups and the younger Márquez brother comfortably dealt with his opponent, knocking him down once on the way to a 6th-round TKO. Márquez fought against WBC Super Bantamweight champion

Toshiaki Nishioka is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2012. He held the WBC super-bantamweight title from 2008 to 2012, and challenged for the WBO and ''The Ring'' super-bantamweight titles in his final-fight. Nishioka is known for ...

on 1 October at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Marquez lost by unanimous decision.

Professional boxing record

Outside the ring

He was involved in a car accident in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was on his way to the airport in Mexico City to go to New York to receive the award for fight of the year, where he fought

. He made his appearance on Fight Night Round 2 launched in 2005. He is

Juan Manuel Marquez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philipp ...

's brother; he also has a sister named Carmela. Their dad is a former professional boxer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquez, Rafael 1975 births Bantamweight boxers International Boxing Federation champions Living people Boxers from Mexico City World Boxing Council champions Mexican male boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Featherweight boxers The Ring (magazine) champions International Boxing Organization champions