Juan Manuel Marquez has been the other guy for much of his boxing career.
The Mexican has two of the four major featherweight championship titles, but he has been largely overshadowed by Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao.
True to form, Marquez is playing second fiddle Saturday when he defends his WBA and IBF belts against Victor Polo at Mandalay Bay. It’s the warm-up bout for a highly anticipated lightweight unification fight between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo.
Serving as the opening act doesn’t bother Marquez, 31, as much as the fact he’s not fighting Pacquiao.
The two brawled to a split draw May 8. Marquez climbed off the canvas three times in the first round and managed to claw his way back in a bout that begged for a rematch.
But Marquez trainer and manager Nacho Beristain turned up his nose at the $750,000 offer for a proposed Feb. 26 rematch, and Marquez went along with the decision.
So instead of fighting a high-profile bout, he’s making $300,000 to face a little-known but rugged opponent.
Marquez blamed his Las Vegas-based promoter, Top Rank, for not promoting him properly.
“It’s all about the promotion and how they handle me, what they do with me,” Marquez said. “I haven’t been promoted as well as guys like Barrera or Morales. They made me that offer (for a rematch with Pacquiao), but I didn’t think it was right or just, not after the first fight.”
HBO offered a $1.5 million license fee for the Marquez-Pacquiao rematch. Top Rank president Todd duBoef said Marquez would have gotten $750,000, with the other half going to Pacquiao.
DuBoef defended Top Rank’s handling of Marquez, saying the fighter made a critical mistake by not capitalizing on the first bout.
“People were excited by the fight and they were talking about him, and that’s when he should have acted,” duBoef said. “That fight would have set up the next one. Had he taken it, he was in the driver’s seat. Everyone who saw the first fight is a Marquez fan, but not enough people saw it to make HBO think it was worth more than $1.5 million.
“But had he taken that, it would have put him in position for the really big fight. He just missed his chance.”
Marquez (43-2-1, 33 knockouts) vows not to let Polo (34-4-3, 24 KOs) knock him off course.
Shocked by how easy Pacquiao was to hit in the first round, Marquez said, he let down momentarily, and that caused the knockdowns. But that never will happen again, Marquez said.
“It took me such a long time to become a world champion, and winning the title was not easy,” Marquez said. “So I will never underestimate any opponent, especially Victor Polo on Saturday. I took Pacquiao lightly and it almost cost me. I learned in that fight to never take anyone lightly.”
