LAS VEGAS ? Juan Manuel Marquez was so upset losing the third fight to Manny Pacquiao in November last year that it made him long for a fourth one.
Now it?s here.
?After the third fight I was very upset. But I said to myself what?s the point so after a while I sat down with my team and my family,? Marquez said.
?We thought maybe there?s an opportunity for a fourth fight. It may not be realistic then but here it is now,? added the crafty Mexican counterpuncher.
On Saturday (Sunday noon in Manila), Marquez gets another crack at Pacquiao. It?s his fourth crack at the Filipino and it will be the last.
Marquez had three previous chances and on each occasion he always came up short ? in the eyes of the judges. He blamed the judges for his two losses and even for the draw.Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Both losses were so close it?s easy to argue who really won the fight.
?Everybody thinks I won those fights. Everybody knows what happened in those fights,? said Marquez, now keeping his fingers crossed that the judges will score it the way he thinks they should.
?I?m hoping they see the right thing and they see what happens inside the ring,? said Marquez of Saturday?s ring officials ? Adelaide Byrd of Las Vegas, Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey and John Keane of England.
In fact, he was so upset then that he never thought of agreeing for the fight to take place here in Sin City.
?I did not want to fight in Las Vegas. I wanted it in Mexico. Manny Pacquiao said he wanted Mexico, too. I don?t know what happened with the promoter,? he said.
But he?s here now to fight Pacquiao on the same turf and hopefully not the same conditions because if he loses this fourth one then it?s done.
Marquez has worked so hard in training that on Saturday at the MGM Grand he wants his name called out as the winner. He has done everything against Pacquiao ? except win.
?Now I want the people to tell me I really beat him. I want to have my hands raised,? he said.
Marquez said over the past four months he?s been so focused on the fight nothing else comes to his mind, not about his next fight and certainly not about retirement.
