At 41-years old, an age when most fighters are either retired or using their deteriorating skills to fight for paychecks, Juan Manuel Marquez is coming off a three fight stretch that saw him KO Manny Pacquiao, lose a competitive split decision to Timothy Bradley, and win a wide unanimous decision over Mike Alvarado. Since beating Alvarado in May, Marquez hasn't been in the ring. There was talk about about a fifth go-around between Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) and Pacquiao (58-5-2, 38 KOs), but Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) landed the fight with Pacquiao instead. Top Rank founder and CEO Bob Arum shed some light on Marquez's plans to ESPN.com last week:
"Juan Manuel will sit out the rest of this year and then back in action in the first four months of next year," Arum said. "He could fight a rematch with Bradley. He could also fight another fight with Manny. He could go a lot of ways. But Marquez is taking off the rest of the year and that is fine. He's an older fighter. For him to take a rest is smart. But he will be back."
Marquez, a former accountant, has reportedly been wise with his money, so he doesn't need to fight anymore if he doesn't want to. He does seem committed to winning a fifth belt in a fifth different weight class. Accomplishing that at welterweight would require Marquez to fight either Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (47-0, 26 KOs), or Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), or the winner of Pacquiao-Algieri.
Who would you like to see Marquez fight in 2015? One of the welterweight champions? One of the young guns at welter or junior welterweight?