Raúl Márquez (born August 28, 1971) is an American 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 1992 to 2008. He held IBF

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in boxing but also may include other combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF o ...

title between April and December 1997. Márquez also represented the U.S. at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

in Barcelona.

Personal life

Márquez resides in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and works as a color commentator for

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. He is married to Jeannette Marquez. He is a father of four boys and one daughter. Raúl Jr., Arturo, Giovanni, Liam and Alina. His son Giovanni was a top amateur boxer who turned professional in March 2022.

Amateur career

Márquez came to the U.S. in 1976 and began his boxing amateur career. His highlights included: *1987 United States Jr. Olympic welterweight champion *1989 United States amateur welterweight champion *1991 United States amateur light middleweight champion *1991 AIBF light middleweight world amateur champion *Represented the United States at the 1992 Olympics at light middleweight. His results were: **Defeated David Defiagbon (Nigeria) 8–7 **Defeated Rival Cadeau (The Seychelles) 20–3 **Lost to Orhan Delibaș (Netherlands) 12–16

Professional career

Márquez began his professional career after the 1992 Olympics and got off to an impressive start, winning his first 25 bouts.

IBF light middleweight title challenge

All those bouts set up a shot at the Vacant IBF Light Middleweight Title against Anthony Stephens. Márquez won by TKO to capture the belt. Raúl successfully defended his title twice, including a victory over

Keith Mullings Keith Mullings (8 January 1968 – 29 May 2021) was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2001. Professional career Mullings turned pro in 1993 and challenged Raúl Márquez for the IBF light middleweight title in 1997, but l ...

, before getting TKO'd by Mexican legend

Yori Boy Campas Luis Ramón "Yori Boy" Campas Medina (born August 6, 1971) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 2019. He held the International Boxing Federation, IBF light middleweight title from 1997 to 1998. Background He is a n ...

Márquez vs. Vargas

In 1999, Márquez challenged then-undefeated IBF light middleweight champion

Fernando Vargas Fernando Javier Vargas (born December 7, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2007. He was a two-time light middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2000, and the WBA title from 2 ...

, but was dominated and stopped in the eleventh round. Márquez took on another elite fighter in 2003,

Shane Mosley Shane Mosley (born September 7, 1971), often known by his nickname "Sugar" Shane Mosley, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2016. He held multiple triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, incl ...

, in a fight which ended in a bloody

no contest ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an ...

after a clash of heads. In 2004, now campaigning at middleweight, Márquez took on the much stronger and then-undefeated

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed champion in the middleweight division, having defeated Bernard Hopkins in 2005, and in doing s ...

, who won by TKO after Márquez's corner decided to pull him out in round nine.

IBF middleweight title run

On June 21, 2008, Márquez defeated Giovanni Lorenzo by unanimous decision in an IBF middleweight title eliminator. The fight took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

. Márquez applied pressure, while Lorenzo tried to box from the outside. Márquez's workrate gave Lorenzo problems, for which he often no answer. Márquez was cut over the right eye in round ten, but Lorenzo was docked a point for a headbutt in the same round and the fighters continued to fight after the bell. Scores were 114–113 across the board for Márquez. On November 8, 2008, at the age of 37, Márquez lost to then-undefeated

Arthur Abraham Avetik Abrahamyan (; born 20 February 1980), best known as Arthur Abraham, is an Armenian-German former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the International Bo ...

via sixth-round

technical 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, a ...

at the

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

Jako Jako AG is a German sportswear company based in the Hollenbach district of Mulfingen, Baden-Württemberg. The company was founded by Rudi Sprügel in 1989 in Stachenhausen. Jako provides kits for teams playing association football, handball, ...

Arena, in what was the 8th defense of his IBF middleweight title.

Broadcasting

Márquez currently works on the announcing team for Showtime on their Spanish-language broadcasts, as well as the English-language '' ShoBox: The New Generation'' series. He has also worked for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, Telefutura and many other networks.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Márquez, Raúl 1971 births Living people American male boxers Boxers from Tamaulipas Mexican emigrants to the United States North Shore Senior High School (Texas) alumni American boxers of Mexican descent Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Olympic boxers for the United States Boxers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Light-middleweight boxers Middleweight boxers World light-middleweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions Goodwill Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games 20th-century American sportsmen People from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas