Juan Manuel Marquez has history on his mind. Not Manny Pacquiao, but an accounting of himself in boxing annuls. It all focuses on Saturday's bout with Timothy Bradley Jr.
That fight, a pay-per-view event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, is for Bradley's WBO welterweight title. Win it, and Marquez will join a select group of fighters to have won titles in five weight divisions.
They are Thomas Hearns (5), Sugar Ray Leonard (5), Floyd Mayweather (5), Oscar De La Hoya (6) … and Pacquiao (8).
But this bout isn't about Pacquiao.
"You know, Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter and we had a lot of great fights together," Marquez said in the run-up to his Vegas fight. "But I beat him. I knocked him out, cold. I think I won the other fights, but in the fourth fight, I knocked him out and proved who's best. And he's a great fighter, but there are a lot of them and Timothy Bradley is one of them. He has that win over Pacquiao, and he is very tough. He's a fighter, a real fighter.
"When I retire and go away from boxing, I don't want anyone to say, 'Marquez ducked this guy.' I spent my life fighting the best. I want to continue to fight the best for as long as I can do it. And Timothy Bradley is one of the best."
There's s sub-texture to the bout as well. Marquez has been tainted by association with the BALCO scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs. And although he never failed a drug test, but suspension never seems to vanish.
That's why he told said in Los Angeles this week: “I don’t have any problem. I’m happy about the doping tests. I want to prove I don’t a have problem with the testing.”
Three times this year he gave blood urine samples for testing, plus one urine test.
OK, for the record, Marquez is 40, 55-6-1 with 40 knockouts and KO'd Pacquiao in December. But at the fight he appeared bigger in the arms and chest, and his conditioning coach had links to BALCO.
Bradley continues to raise the issue. “I have nothing to hide, I’m clean,” Bradley said. “Test me any time."
The truth to any doping suspicions are in the laboratory. The proof of Bradley vs. Marques will come in the ring.
FIGHT SCHEDULE
Oct. 11
At Chumash Resort Casino, Santa Ynez, Calif., Ramon Morales vs. Roberto Castaneda, 10, super bantamweights.
Oct. 12
At Mendoza, Argentina, Juan Carlos Reveco vs. Ricardo Nunez, 12, for Reveco's WBA World flyweight title.
At Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas (PPV), Timothy Bradley Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, 12, for Bradley's WBO welterweight title; Orlando Salido vs. Orlando Cruz, 12, for vacant WBO featherweight title; Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Jose Ramirez, 10, featherweights; Sean Monaghan vs. Anthony Caputo-Smith, 10, light heavyweights.
Oct. 14
At The BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla. (FS1), Jermell Charlo vs. Jose Angel Rodriguez, 10, junior middleweights.
Oct. 19
At Leipzig, Germany, Mouti Mthalane vs. Silvio Olteanu, 12, for Mthalane's IBF flyweight title.
At Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Javier Fortuna vs. Jose Carmona, 10, super featherweights.
At San Jose, Costa Rica, Bryan Vasquez vs. Rene Gonzalez, 12, for the interim WBA World junior lightweight title.
At 1stBANK Center, Denver (HBO), Mike Alvarado, vs. Ruslan Provodnikov, 12, for Alvardo's WBO junior welterweight title.
Oct. 26
At Manila, Philippines, John Riel Casimero vs. Felipe Salguero, 12, for Casimero's IBF light flyweight title.
At Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J. (SHO), Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat, 12, for Hopkins' IBF light heavyweight title; Peter Quillin vs. Gabriel Rosado, 12, for Quillin's WBO middleweight title.
At Tijuana, Mexico, Miguel Vazquez vs. Ammeth Diaz, 12, for Vazquez's IBF lightweight title.
Oct. 28
At the Sports House, Redwood City, Calif. (FS1), Manuel Avila vs. Jose Silveira, 10, super bantamweights.
Nov. 2
At Madison Square Garden Theater, New York (HBO), Gennady Golovkin vs. Curtis Stevens, 12, for Golovkin's WBA World middleweight title; Ola Afolabi vs. Lukasz Janik, 12, for the vacant IBO cruiserweight title; Mike Perez vs. Magomed Abdusalamov, 10, heavyweights.
Nov. 9
At Corpus Christi, Texas (HBO), Roman Martinez vs. Miguel Angel Garcia, 12, for Martinez's WBO junior lightweight title; Nonito Donaire vs. Vic Darchinyan, 10, featherweights; Demetrius Andrade vs. Vanes Martirosyan, 12, for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title.
Nov. 11
At Cowboys Dancehall, San Antonio (FS1), Fidel Maldonado Jr. vs. Luis Ramos Jr., 10, junior welterweights.
Nov. 16
At Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, Calif. (HBO), Andre Ward vs. Edwin Rodriguez, 12, for Ward's WBA World super middleweight title.
Nov. 23
At Macau, China (PPV), Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios, 12, for the vacant WBO welterweight title; Beibut Shumenov vs. Tamas Kovacs, 12, for Shumenov's WBA World/IBA light heavyweight titles; Evgeny Gradovich vs. Billy Dib, 12, for Gradovich's IBF featherweight title.
At Manchester, England, Carl Froch vs. George Groves, 12, for Froch's IBF/WBA Super World super middleweight titles.
Dec. 6
At UIC Pavilion, Chiacgo, Krzysztof Wlodarczyk vs. Giacobbe Fragomeni, 12, for Wlodarczyk's WBC cruiserweight title.
Dec. 7
At Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y., Devon Alexander vs. Amir Kahn, 12, for Alexander's IBF welterweight title.
Dec. 14
At TBA, Germany, Yoan Pablo Hernandez vs. Alexander Alekseev, 12, for Hernadez's IBF cruiserweight title.
At the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Rene maidana, 12, for Broner's WBA World welterweight title.
Contributing: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times