LAS VEGAS ? Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez revisit a rivalry that has seethed with controversies spanning seven years and 24 rounds, both wanting a decisive end to what has become a personal war that spawned boxing?s latest trilogy.
Pacquiao puts his WBO welterweight crown and his reputation as the world?s pound-for-pound king on the line when he faces Marquez before an expected sell-out crowd at the MGM Grand Saturday evening (Sunday noon in Manila).
They?ve fought twice in the past, the first one ending in a controversial draw in 2004, and the second in an equally intriguing split decision for the sensational Filipino boxer in 2008. Three years after the last one, here they go again.
It could be the last. It should be the last.
There?s so much interest in this fight, not because their styles are certainly made for each other, and the fireworks they?ve provided inside the ring, but more for its emotional content. By their actions, it?s easy to see that they hate each other.
After Pacquiao?s one-point victory in 2008, where he floored Marquez once in the third round, and actually for the fourth time in two matches, the Mexican counter-puncher brainwashed himself and those around him that he won both fights.
