Juan Manuel Marquez to fight Cesar Rene Cuenca in Mexico City – Boxing News
Three-division champion Juan Manuel Marquez is set to fight Cesar Rene Cuenca on April 14 in Mexico City for a vacant interim junior welterweight title. The bout was announced by Marquez’s promoter, Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions.
Zanfer revealed, “The fight is official. We will do the press conference on March 22 in Mexico City. It's important to keep him active. Juan Manuel wants to stay active. And he wants to definitely come back to Mexico City. It's been 18 years since he fought
in Mexico City. This is his hometown. And he is very excited about it. He is excited to make a fight and what's better for him than to be fighting in his hometown after all these years?
Juan Manuel Marquez had set his eyes on a fourth match with Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight title currently held by the latter. However, things did not work out for Marquez and now he has to fight Cuenca for the interim junior welterweight title.
When asked about the venue, Beltran said that it is a newly built $300 million Mexico City Arena that can accommodate 22,300 spectators and that this will be the first ever bout there. He said, “It opened a few weeks ago, but this fight will be the first
sporting event and that is very exciting for us.”
He further revealed that the bout will be televised in the USA and he is still working with broadcasters to reach a final deal.
Marquez and Pacquiao have met in the ring thrice. Their first bout was held on May 8, 2004, which ended up in a draw. Since the first bout’s decision was considered controversial by both the sides, a rematch was decided. The second bout was held on March
15, 2008, in Pacquiao defeated Marquez via split decision. Pacquiao became the WBC super featherweight champion with this victory. The third fight was held on November 12, 2011, and Marquez again lost to Pacquiao but this time with a majority decisions with
scores being 114-114, 115-113 & 116-112. Marquez then spoke of a fourth match but nothing has been confirmed about it as of yet.
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