CEBU ? All eyes will once again be glued either to the boobtubes or the widescreens come Sunday morning in the Philippines as Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Mexican bitter rival Juan Manuel Marquez take on each other for the fourth time at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
The 12-round duel for the ?WBO Champion of the Decade? plum promises to be an epic all-out battle as the two fighters vowed to knock the other out and finally settle the controversies hounding their previous three encounters.
At Wednesday?s (Thursday in Manila) press conference, fight promoter Bob Arum also said the fight will be ?spectacular? as neither Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) nor Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) wants the judges to decide the winner this time.
To recall, Pacquiao and Marquez settled their first fight in a draw in 2003, but the ?Pacman? escaped with a split verdict in 2007 and triumphed by unanimous decision in their third clash last year which Marquez believes he had both won.
Marquez, monickered ?El Dinamita? by his fellow Mexicans, has been training and preparing hard for four months in his native Mexico City as he intends to win via knockout. He said he will be the aggressor in this fight and will be fighting ?with intelligence because Pacquiao is dangerous.?
The eight-division world champion Pacquiao, who will be celebrating his 34th birthday on December 17, likewise, vowed to knock Marquez out and finally silence El Dinamita?s loud mouth.
Determined to show Marquez and his detractors he?s still boxing?s pound-for-pound king, Pacquiao has also trained rigorously at coach Freddie Roach?s Wild Card gym and is expected to go out with more aggression, more punches and more combos to overwhelm the Mexican.
The boxer-congressman of Saranggani Province, meanwhile, expressed his sympathy to the victims of Typhoon Pablo and gave his assurance to help them.
“Some of my personal money will go to the typhoon victims.” Pacquiao said. “Para sa inyo ang laban na ito (This fight is for all of you).?
Four Filipinos see action
Spicing up the Pacquiao-Marquez main event is the exciting bouts in the undercard, featuring four Filipino fighters against separate opponents.
Scheduled to strut their wares before the biggest fight of the day are Pacquaio?s compatriots Ernie Sanchez (13-3-0, 5 KO) of General Santos City, Michael Farenas (34-3-4, 34 KO), and Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr. (9-0-0, 9 KO) and Mercito Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KO) of Cebu City.
Sanchez will open the curtains against Coy Evans (10-1-1, 2 KO) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for eight rounds and Penalosa will go up next versus Jesus Lule Raya (6-4-0, 1 KO) of Fort Meyers, Florida, also for eight rounds.
Pro debutante Jose Ramirez of Avenal, California, will then follow suit against Corey Siegwarth (2-1-0, 1 KO) for just four short rounds.
The now Cebu-based Gesta, who hails from San Diego, California, will shoot for the IBF world lightweight title against Miguel Angel Vasquez (31-3-0, 13 KO) of Guadalajara, Mexico, for 12 rounds right after the WBA Interim featherweight title bout between Patrick Hyland (27-0-0, 12 KO) of Dublin, Ireland, and Javier Fortuna (20-0-1, 15 KO).
Farenas will then clash with Cuban hotshot Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0-0, 16 KO) for the WBA Interim super-featherweight crown in the main supporting event. (Luel B. Galarpe/Sunnex)
