Chris John beat Juan Manuel Marquez by UD in 12 Rounds
Location: Karang Melenu Sports Hall, Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, Indonesia
Referee: Guillermo Perez Pineda
Judge: Oscar Perez 116-110
Judge: Takeshi Shimakawa 117-111
Judge: Pinit Prayadsab 116-112
World Boxing Association Featherweight Title (John's 5th defense)
Weights: 125 lbs (each)
Marquez's scores were deducted twice for repeated low blows in rounds ten and eleven.
This was the second mandatory fight for Chris John.
The IBF decided to strip Juan Manuel Marquez's IBF belt, after no promoter bid for the IBF mandatory title fight Marquez vs. Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym (August 2005).
The IBF's decision influenced the WBA to revoke Marquez's status as the super champion, and soon instructing John as the regular champion to fight Marquez in a mandatory bout.
The WBA conducted a purse bid for John vs. Marquez, October 2005. The only bidder MTM Promotions won the purse bid with the minimum bid of US$ 125,001.
MTM Promotions sold the right of the fight to the Indonesian promoter Muhammad Arsyad, enabling the fight to be featured in Indonesia.
March 4, 2006 became the final date of the fight after two postponements of initially scheduled matches on December 9, 2005 and February 4, 2006, canceled due to John's ankle ligament injury.
The venue was actually a parking lot of the Putri Karang Melenu Sports Hall, Tenggarong, which was developed into a new open air venue, and named by Fight News correspondent Jeffrey Pamungkas as "The Golden Gate Arena".
The first third of the fight contained four extremely close rounds. John started to assert himself as the boxer while Marquez repeatedly tried to slash into John's guard with heavy punches. John also landed his share of telling blows throughout these rounds and seemed to be the quicker of the two fighters.
With the start of round five, Marquez appeared to land the heavier punches as John became less active in the bout. This trend continued into round ten, where Marquez was deducted a point for repeated low blows against John. In round eleven, John appeared to pick up the tempo. This round led to another point deduction against Marquez which sealed a 10-8 round for John. As the bout came to a close in round twelve, it was clear John was the fresher of the two fighters. The twelfth was a close round, but a round won by John.
The only western journalist to attend the bout, Scott Mallon of Ring Magazine and The Sweet Science, scored the bout 116-110 in favor of John. His report and those of the Asian journalists in attendance suggested the bout was a just decision.
