Juan Manuel Márquez hangs up the gloves

Juan Manuel Márquez hung up the gloves this year after a 24-year career, but leaving boxing, never.

On Saturday, October 21 in Atizapán, the former champion opened the doors of the Dynamite Boxing Center, where he not only intends to contribute to boxing, but also to invite fans to join this discipline to achieve a healthy life.

"I am very excited to think about a gym. It is a dream come true. Now things have aligned to be able to achieve it and I am happy, it was something I wanted to do for a long time and now I found a way," said the former fighter who left a record of 56-7-1 with 40 knockouts in an interview with La Afición.

Now as a partner of a boxing gym, Márquez aims to help develop new figures in the sport, as he wants his gym to become a breeding ground.

"Obviously, I want this gym to be a place where high-level boxers come from. There is quality in Mexico, the kids are good, we just have to detect the talent," he added.

11 weeks after announcing his retirement, after a three-year break, Dinamita assures that he made the right decision and although it is difficult, he has not had that conflicting feeling that forces retired boxers to think about what would have happened if they had stepped into the ring one more time.

The fighter, who reached the pinnacle of boxing with the effective knockout he delivered to Filipino Manny Pacquiao in 2012, stated that before announcing his retirement, he received interesting offers, from becoming a rival of Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to setting up the fifth fight against PacMan, even going through young talents asking for an opportunity.

"The offers were very tempting, economically speaking, of course they were. But I already gave what I had to give, I did what I had to do and there was no reason to expose myself. That's why, even though Cotto looked very good for a comeback, I decided to say goodbye. I even talked with Miguel and everything was set, but I wrote to apologize for the decision to retire, but he, like a true gentleman, replied not to worry and wished me the best for this new stage of my life. With all professionalism, he wished me a happy retirement," Márquez concluded, who ended up with a record that included the WBF and WBA featherweight titles, the WBC super featherweight, the WBC, and WBO lightweight, as well as the WBO welterweight.