There?s no other way to call the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch on March 15, 2008 dubbed ?Unfinished Business? than Mega Blockbuster. For starters, the main event features two of the world?s 10 best pound-for-pound fighters.
The prestigious Ring Magazine?s pound-for-pound rankings as of March 2, 2008 lists World Boxing Council (WBC) Emeritus Champion super featherweight Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KO) number two while his opponent Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila), Marquez (48-3-1, 35 KO), the WBC super featherweight champion, is ranked number three.
The others in the exclusive rankings are: 1) WBC welterweight champion and Ring welterweight champion, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KO); 4) Ring light heavyweight titleholder, Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1-21, 32 KO); and 5) Joe Calzaghe (44-0, 32 KO), World Boxing Association (WBA), WBC and World Boxing Organization (WBO) and Ring super middleweight king.
Heading the bottom half is number six, Israel Vazquez (43-4, 31 KO), WBC and Ring super bantamweight champion, followed by: 7) Miguel Angel Cotto (31-0, 25 KO), who rules the WBA welterweight division; 8) Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KO), International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring junior welterweight titlist; 9) American middleweight Ronald Wright (51-4-1, 25 KO); and 10) Mexican Rafael Marquez who once ruled the bantamweight and super bantamweight divisions and is the younger brother of Juan Manuel.
As for the undercard, boxing website secondsout.com points out that the six fighters in the supporting bouts have a combined record of 155-10-4 (81 KOs) and a winning percentage of 92 percent in three bouts. WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano (34-1, 15 KOs), from La Puerta, California will be defending his title for the second time. Luevano captured the vacant title July last year by knocking out previously unbeaten Nicky Cook (27-0, 15 KOs) in the 11th round in London. Earlier, in November, Luevano was successful in his first title defense winning a decision over Antonio Davis. Luevano?s forthcoming fight in the Pacquiao-Marquez II Unfinished Business should be very interesting as he will be going up against Thailand?s Terdsak Jandaeng (29-2, 19 KOs), who has won 11of his last 12 bouts, over half of which by knockout.
Another bout has local boy Diosdado Gabi (30-3-1, 21 KOs) locking horns with North American Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Abner Mares (15-0, 9 KOs) from Mexico. Mares stakes his title and number three world ranking against Gabi, former world title contender and rated 10th. Gabi, who idolizes Pacquiao, trained with the Filipino boxing icon and stayed in the latter?s plushy apartment in Los Angeles in preparing for the Mexican. Mares will be defending his title for the second time since winning it last year from former world champion Isidro Garcia. Gabi, on the other hand, hopes to extend his winning streak that started two years ago with him winning all four of his bouts, three by knockout.
WBC lightweight champion David Diaz (33-1-1), who has been unbeaten in eight bouts over the last three years, faces Ramon Montano (14-3-2) from Mexico. Diaz, who won a unanimous decision over three-division world champion Erik Morales in his first title defense, is being eyed as Pacquiao?s next opponent. Montano is unbeaten in 11 of his last 12 bouts, including a split decision over the skillful Americo Santos (25-1-1) and a draw against Dmitriy Salita, undefeated in 24 fights.
If their first meeting in May 2004 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is any indication, Pacquiao-Marquez II promises to be just as explosive and action-packed. The Mexican warrior was decked three times by Pacquiao in the first round, sustained a broken nose and, according to John Gregg of boxingtimes.com, swallowed enough blood to drop an ox.
Bucking the three knockdowns, Marquez took over a great part of the rest of the fight to come up with a majority draw, before 7,129 fans and millions more watching the fight on TV.
Marquez?s victory was however, not without its share of controversy. Judge Burt Clements scored the bout 113-113, while Guy Jutras had the fight 115-110 for Marquez, and John Stewart marked it 115-110 for Pacquiao.
The controversy arose from how the first round was scored. Clements scored it 10-7 for Pacquiao while Jutras and Stewart saw Pacquiao as the clear winner, 10-6 because of the three spectacular knockdowns. If Clements had scored it the way the two others saw it, Pacquiao would have emerged victorious since he would have a one-point advantage. Gregg says that boxingtimes.com had Pacquiao winning 114-113 while the Associated Press scored the fight a draw, 113-113.
This Saturday?s fight should help resolve this issue. After all, both have trained long and hard and have studied each other?s styles very carefully.
