Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez shared the ring with a number of generational greats during his career and has finally revealed the hardest puncher that he ever faced.
Marquez had an outstanding professional career of his own, winning world titles at featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and light welterweight along the way.
He shared the ring with some of the greatest fighters of his generation during his tenure, including the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Manny Pacquiao, Timothy Bradley and Floyd Mayweather.
Marquez locked horns with Filipino icon Pacquiao on four occasions during his career, producing one of the most memorable rivalries of that era.
In a round of ‘Best I Faced’ with The Ring Magazine, Marquez made no mistake in naming Pacquiao as the hardest puncher he ever crossed paths with, as he claims ‘nobody hit him harder’.
“Pacquiao: In all the fights I had, nobody hit me harder than him.”
Their first encounter, which took place back in May of 2004, ended in a closely fought split decision draw after a competitive 12-rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with Marquez dropped three times in the first round.
Whilst Pacquiao walked away victorious in their second and third clashes, Marquez had the last laugh in the fourth and final meeting in December 2012 when he knocked out ‘PacMan’ in sensational fashion.
‘Dinamita’ called time on his career just two years later, defeating former WBO light-welterweight champion Mike Alvarado in the 64th and final outing of his career.
