Manny Pacquiao remains an overwhelming favorite to defeat Juan Manuel Marquez and defend his WBO welterweight title in their third meeting Saturday night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. And for Marquez to have any type of chance to pull an upset, he will have to find a way to avoid the devastating right hand of Pacquiao.
Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank
?This fight is the most important of my career,? said Marquez at the weigh in late Friday afternoon. ?I want to fight with the best pound-for-pound fighter.? Marquez weighed in at 142, in a fight that he wanted, to settle the score after a draw and a decision that went against him in two previous fights with Pacquiao.
Four times Marquez has been dropped by Pacquiao. It was the left, and now Pacquiao has perfected a right that could be an obstacle for Marquez, who at 38 years old may not be strong or quick enough to counter if the fight goes long. It will be a contest and Pacquiao, as has been known the past few weeks, is motivated and also wants to settle the score.
?I need to win every round and win them convincingly,? said Marquez. But can he back up his words and win rounds? That will be the question in the opening rounds of a fight that has drawn a major contingent of fans from Mexico and the Philippines. Pacquiao has shown no animosity to Marquez or his fans, however he has not forgot that Marquez has said, ?I clearly won both fights.?
?I thank the Mexican fans,? said Pacquiao who tipped the scales at 142. ?I am just doing my job in the ring.? Marquez does not want to be stopped the first time inside the distance. Freddie Roach, the trainer of Pacquiao has seen a more intense fighter with instincts of seeing a quick fight.
Said Roach earlier this week, ?When Marquez goes down he is not getting up.? However in the previous two fights of 24 rounds, all in different weight classes, Marquez would go down and get up from a Pacquiao left. This could be the last journey for Marquez, the three-division world champion who captured his first world title, the vacant IBF featherweight championship with a seventh round stoppage over three-time featherweight champion Manuel Medina in 2003.
His last three wins over Juan Dizaz, Mike Kadsidis and Likar Ramos have been a 12-round decision, a TKO in the ninth round, and a first round KO over an overmatched Ramos. Before that, a not so memorable 12-round loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
?I would rather fight Pacquiao four more times than Mayweather,? he said. Well, he does not get Mayweather again. It is Pacquiao for a third time, and fight fans will be watching carefully because the expected Pacquiao win will start the talk again and anticipation for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.
But first Marquez has to get by Pacquiao, and this time there will be a definite winner and that will be Pacquiao by TKO in the eighth round.
