Former bantamweight and junior featherweight world champ Rafael Marquez (40-7, 36 KOs) returns to action Saturday in a 10-round featherweight showcase against former world-title challenger Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-2-2, 4 KOs) in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
The 37-year-old Marquez last fought in October 2011, dropping a unanimous decision in a failed bid for Toshiaki Nishioka’s WBC junior featherweight title. Marquez is best known for evenly splitting a brutal four-fight series with fellow Mexican, Israel Vazquez, but has also scored quality wins over the likes of Mark Johnson, Tim Austin, and Silence Mabuza. Since scoring his first victory over Israel Vazquez in 2007, however, the native of Mexico City has amassed a mediocre 3-4 record, including a 2008 RTD 8 loss to then-WBO featherweight champ, Juan Manuel Lopez.
Japan’s Yamaguchi has been on the international tomato-can circuit, with bouts in Mexico, Australia, and The Philippines making up his last four contests. In his last bout, he was stopped in the eleventh round of a listless, seemingly half-hearted run at Orlando Salido’s WBO featherweight title.
