LAS VEGAS–After 24, heated rounds, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez are thisclose.
But let?s not overlook the two underpaid guys who mapped out their respective battle plans, Nacho Beristain for the Mexican ringmaster and Coach Freddie Roach for the Pinoy idol.
Marquez, 34, came into the rematch not only with his mental and physical batteries fully recharged but with a sharp and effective strategy which combined well-time aggressiveness and the perfect use of any southpaw?s worst enemy, the right hand lead.
(Years ago, when I was a 156-pound middleweight boxer at the University of Nevada, Reno, there was a teammate of mine named John Grover. He was stronger than me and he was a lefty. When I first started sparring with Grover, he was nailing me with the right jab and I could not figure out how to stop his constant charging. Then a Wolf Pack teammate, I think it might?ve been a big banger named Pistol Pete Wisecarver, gave me the magic bullet to stop a portsider.
Lead with the right hand, again and again, and you discombobulate most lefthanders. They are looking for your left jab but you eschew it and slap them with the lead right while always moving away from their power hand, the left.
Sparring with Grover became a day at the beach.)
It?s been a bitter March for Beristain with Juan Manuel losing a highly disputed decision and brother Rafael getting beat again by Israel Vazquez.
But, just as Roach did a marvelous job of getting Pacman into peak condition, Beristain did a superb job in altering the Marquez fight plan.
Roach is also to be commended for curing Pac of his former, jittery jitterbug style in which he would attack while off-balance and vulnerable to any and all counterpunches. Now he is so much more poised and polished.
Two Hall Of Fame fighters and two Hall Of Fame trainers.
Reminds me of the great Eddie Futch (Frazier) and Angelo Dundee (Ali) banging heads.
No wonder these fights are classics.
