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Juan Manuel Marquez revealed the details of his fight against fellow former four division world champion Miguel Cotto.
The boxers will come out of retirement to collide in an exhibition fight on June 12, on pay-per-view, with the venue yet to be finalized.
According to Marquez, the fight will consist of eight two-minute rounds, 14-ounce gloves and no headgear.
Marquez will dust off his gloves after seven years of inactivity, and Cotto returns after just over three years without a fight .
Both boxers will have their Hall of Fame trainers present on fight night – with Cotto using Freddie Roach and Marquez getting back together with Nacho Beristain.
“[Nacho Beristain] was very happy because I was the last champion he had. He took [the news of my return] with joy. He said ‘I’ll accompany you, we’ll do it’. My family told me that if it was an exhibition it was fine with them, they took the news well. We are going to train, we are going to prepare as if it were a [sanctioned] fight, but it is going to be with bigger gloves, rounds that are two minutes long with one [minute between for] rest, and without any headgear,” Marquez told ESPN Deportes.
Marquez, 47 years old and with 56 wins, 40 of them by knockout, in exchange for seven losses and a draw, did not close the door when discussing the possibility of having more exhibitions.
Marquez and Cotto discussed the possibility of fighting each other several years ago, in a sanctioned fight, but they were unable to reach an agreement on the weight. The Mexican boxer was also dealing with a nagging knee injury.
“We are going to see how the situation develops, see how we look before the people. We are going to showcase ourselves as we have always done, we are going to see what happens. But the first thing I’m focused on is June 12, I am very excited. The 7 years of rest that I’ve had, it’s like the body took a breath, it regenerated, so I am preparing quite well,” Marquez said.