Marquez expects 'best Mayweather ever'

Juan Manuel Marquez is not expecting Floyd Mayweather Jr to show any signs of rust when the pair meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this July.

Mayweather Jr was known as the pound-for-pound king of boxing when he retired 18 months ago, and that is the fighter that Marquez, the lightweight champ, is preparing to face, regardless of how much time his opponent has spent out of the ring.

'I'm expecting the best Floyd Mayweather ever,' Marquez told a New York press conference today. 'I'm putting in my mind that he never retired, so I'm expecting the best.'

Marquez added that he has been piling on muscle as he bids to get himself up to the fight weight of 143 pounds.

'I always prepare myself to win,' Marquez he said. 'He's not a machine, he's a human being, and human beings can be beat.'

While Marquez is building up to the weight, Mayweather must slim down after the time away.

He returns to a boxing world he no longer rules after Manny Pacquiao demolished Ricky Hatton earlier this month, but Mayweather is not ready to hand over his crown to anybody.

'I respect him for what he does, I respect him in the fight game, but I've never been beat,' Mayweather said, a nod to the three defeats on Pacquiao's record. 'Nobody has the antidote for Floyd Mayweather.'

A meeting with Pacquiao will have to wait, however, as Marquez stands in the way, and that for now has Mayweather's full attention.

'Marquez is a warrior,’ he said. ‘He's a hell of a fighter.'