Juan Manuel Marquez clueless on whether to return or retire

Juan Manuel MarquezReuters

It was in 2014 when Juan Manuel Marquez aka Dinamita was last seen in the boxing ring, leading many to speculate that the Mexican boxer has gone into retirement.

Or has he?

Marquez was among the names listed as possible opponents for Manny Pacquiao in 2016, but it all depends on his current status. Is he active or retired?

It seems that the answer to that is left floating, although Marquez did hint that he still has the hunger to get into the ring.

His last fight was way back in May 2014 when he won via unanimous decision over Mike Alvarado. An injury (kneecap) sidelined the 42-year-old boxer, forcing him to rehabilitate the knee before moving forward.

With the long layoff, it is safe perhaps to presume that Marquez has gotten the necessary time off to allow his knee to heal, but the question now is — when and whom he would face just in case he does enter the boxing ring once more in 2015?

According to his conditioning coach Angel Heredia, Dinamita wants to do at least two more fights — one in the United States and another which would be his farewell fight in Mexico.

This was, however, rescinded once more with reports that his fight with Alvarado was indeed his last. So what gives? Is Marquez really done and over with? Would he be interested in fighting Pacquiao for a fifth time?

So right now, it seems the first thing that Marquez has to do is decide — is he fighting or calling it quits? Could his knee still be hurting?

Apparently, there are a lot of questions in the air on whether or not Marquez will be seen back in the ring. His hint is that if he starts training, count three to four months after that and a fight will ensue.

Doing the math, it does justify why he will no longer be seen in 2015. How about 2016?

A wild guess would be if he doesn't announce or set up anything before February, chances are Marquez has technically retired. Why? It marks the second year that he will be out of action, making it doubly hard to get back into the groove of boxing.