Former world junior middleweight champion and current top ten rated middleweight contender Raul Marquez has gotten into the title mix at 160 pounds the old-fashioned way – he earned it – and now he wants to step into the ring as soon as possible with new champion Kelly Pavlik to determine once and for all who the best middleweight in the world is.

“I want to congratulate Kelly Pavlik on his big win over Jermain Taylor, and I respect his attitude of being willing to fight all comers,” said Marquez, winner of five consecutive bouts, all by knockout. “Hopefully he’ll live up to those claims by fighting a true contender like me, and not one of the rookies out there like Sergio Mora or John Duddy. I respect those kids, but they’ve never fought any contenders, they don’t have the resume to deserve a title shot like I do, and they don’t even want to fight me. If Kelly Pavlik wants to fight the best available contender, that’s me.

Currently ranked eighth in the world by the WBC and fifth by the WBA, Marquez (40-3, 29 KOs) is a native of Reynosa, Mexico, who now makes his home in Houston, Texas. A member of the 1992 US Olympic team, “El Diamante” duplicated his amateur success in the pros as he won the IBF junior middleweight title with a ninth round TKO of Anthony Stephens in 1997. He would defend the title twice before losing it to Yory Boy Campas later that year, but since then he has compiled a record of 12-2 with 1 no contest. Nine of those wins have come by knockout.

“As I’ve gotten older,” said the 36-year old Marquez, “I’ve gotten better, and I really don’t think these young guys like Pavlik can hang with me in a knockdown, drag “em out dogfight. If Pavlik thinks Taylor rocked him, I’ll take him out once I get hurt him. That’s something only experience can teach you, and I’ve got all the tools to beat Pavlik. I’ll even fight him in his backyard in Youngstown, Ohio.”

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