Yeah I said it. The biggest fight in boxing does not involve Oscar De la Hoya or Floyd Mayweather Jr. It involves two guys who don’t speak much English and don’t even live in the States. The fight I speak of is the much anticipated and awaited rematch between Filipino, southpaw-sensation Manny Pacquiao and the man to recently dethrone Marco Antonio Barrera as the king of Mexico City, Juan Manuel Marquez.
This fight brings the both of best worlds in so many ways. It brings together two extremely passionate and loyal cultures with Marquez’s Mexican fan base and Pacquiao’s Filipino followers. Who knows, there might just be some black, white, orange and purple colored fans that are as excited to see this rematch as are the natives.
In Juan Manuel Marquez you have one of the best technicians in the sport that has recently done the reverse of what most veteran fighters tend to do later in their careers. We’ve seen it with Bernard Hopkins and Marco Antonio Barrera when these master boxers use every trick in the book to avoid absorbing as much damage as possible. Marquez has seemingly become more exciting as his career is winding down and I believe that it has really increased not only his fan base but marketability as well. The label he once carried as a pure technician that would beat down a fighter like a child picking wings off a bug, piece by piece, no longer precedes him. “Dinamita” now engages in the trenches and looks for the knockout both early and late in the fight.
Manny Pacquiao has been labeled the most exciting fighter in the game and with good reason. He brings with him a style that is reminiscent of a young Mike Tyson in how he’s always looking to come forward and land some seriously heavy punches. The thing that really makes Manny an extremely television friendly fighter is that he fights with such emotion and passion it’s almost overwhelming at times. Whenever he gets tagged, you can count on the fact that he’ll be raging to respond with his own barrage. This is what made the battles between him and Erik “El Terrible” Morales such classic bouts.
There’ve been rumors flying about Pacquiao fighting the Dominican Republic’s Joan Guzman and Marquez facing Argentina’s Jorge Barrios. I’m sorry but as good as these fights could potentially be, they don’t live up to a fraction of the amount of excitement and hype as the rematch the world has truly been waiting for. Pacquiao-Marquez II could be a fight promoted world-wide and truly show not only the boxing world but the earth in general what boxing can encompass. The De la Hoya-Mayweather bout showcased the sweet science to a high degree and Pacquiao-Marquez II could allow viewers a glimpse of what the other side of the sport has to offer. That’s not to say that both fighters don’t exude a high level of skill and ability, it’s just that you know it will be a war from start to finish. Boxing as a whole needs to showcase it’s many different facets and the rematch between these two warriors is the perfect fight to do that.
I’ll cross my fingers, toes, and whatever the hell else I have to in hopes that this fight will take place sometime in September. It’s the only fight that all fight fans everywhere are looking forward to and it might just be another event that boxing can showcase as a fight between two of the sport’s best getting it on.
PS. I’m going to pretend as if there really is no Top Rank-Golden Boy feud going on hoping that the very real dispute can be resolved to make this highly anticipated fight happen.
