In May 2004, Márquez fought Lineal & The Ring Featherweight Champion Manny Pacquiao in a bout where Márquez was knocked down three times in the 1st round. Marquez outboxed Pacquiao for the remainder of the bout which was ended in a controversial, split-decision draw. The final scores were 115–110 for Márquez, 115–110 for Pacquiao and 113–113. Judge Burt A. Clements (who scored the bout 113–113) later admitted to making an error on the scorecards, because he had scored the first round as 10–7 in favor of Pacquiao instead of the standard 10–6 for a three-knockdown round

"Hearts and fists on fire."