"It's time for me to go now. That was absolutely my last fight."

GL: Can you give us some thoughts on your performance and tell us what went wrong?  "I just got back last night.  My girlfriend and I spent the day over there after I fought Saturday.  We went sightseeing and stuff, I had fun.  What am I going to do?  Things didn't go the way I wanted them to.  You were right about Arthur Abraham, I underestimated the guy.  He's very strong, he got me off of my game plan from the beginning.  He started real fast, faster then he usually has in the past.  He was busier, and his power.  Every punch he hit me with, affected me, it knocked me off balance, that's what I felt.  I've got to give it to him, he's a great champion.  In my humble opinion, he's the best middleweight out there."

GL:  Based on your experience fighting both Abraham and Jermain Taylor, is Arthur Abraham, in your opinion, is better than Jermain?

Raul Marquez:  Yes, I really think that.  I've fought all kinds of fighters in my career, all different types of guys, I'm very impressed with Abraham.  I hear comments that's he's opened up.  His defense is real thight, he's got that Winky Wright type of defense.  He's powerful, when he punches you he hits you from different angles. and every punch is precise.  He's real accurate, and that's what makes him who he is today.

GL:  You retired on your stool in the sixth round, obviously he had to be doing something that led you to believe that continuing would have been a waste of time.

RM:  Yes.  I hit him with the best shot that I had and he just kept coming, he was just manhandling me there.  I felt that his energy was getting better, and mine was getting worse.  I got cut in the sixth round, it wasn't a huge cut, but the blood was going in my eye.  At that point I wasn't winning the fight, I might have won two rounds at the most.  He was getting stronger, and I was losing energy from his power shots.  I hit him with some good body shots, I even hurt him.   He said I hurt his ribs from a body shot.  I tried to attack, but the way he covered up and counterpunched back, it wasn't enough. I did everything I could to that point and it wasn't getting any better for me. My face was swelling, I was cut and the blood was getting in my eye. It's good to have family in your corner. My father and my brother thought that I taken enough and they didn't want to see me get hurt. I have a wife and kids, why continue? I'm 37, I had a great career and hopefully I can remain in this business of boxing in some kind of way.

GL: You said HAD a great career, was that your last fight?

RM: "Yes. It's time for me to go now. That was absolutely my last fight. It is a hard decision. If you've been doing this for many years, but I did everything I could. I was an Olympian, I was a world champion. When I retired after I fought Jermain Taylor, I came back to fight for the middleweight title again. I didn't win it and there's no need for me to continue. Yes, I can maybe beat some of the other guys in the top ten. I fought the best middleweight I couldn't beat him, there's no need for me to be anybody else's steppingstone."

GL: When guys quit on their stool, they are often thinking about their future in boxing, do you regret not going out on your shield in your last fight?

RM: "Some people might look at it that way, but I wasn't going to give his fans the satisfaction of seeing me get knocked out. I'm a smart guy and I know boxing, he was either going to knock me out to where I could have been unconscious, or give me a terrible beating. It's hard to knock me down and I take a good shot, but he would have given me a terrible beating. I didn't want to take that risk and there was no need for me to do that. Everybody knows I've been a warrior my whole life and we had seen enough so that's it."

GL: Who's to say that you won't come back again as you did after the Taylor loss?

RM: "I understand your point, but I'm going on 38 and the training, running and sparring is not the same and I'm tired. I've been training my whole life. I've been sparring since I was seven years old. I will get the itch, but I'm too smart for that. This time I am definitely hanging them up. Hopefully I can still be involved in boxing in some way or another, as a commentator."

GL: Closing thoughts?

RM: "It's always great to be back on Boxingtalk and I look forward to seeing you again."

H

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