There’s a lot of chest-thumping about national pride. Manny Pacquiao is called a national treasure by his fellow Filipinos. But he has a different nickname in Mexico. He is the “Mexican Assassin” or “Republica Enemy No. 1.” That might make Juan Manuel Marquez the last great Mexican still standing.
But flags don’t bleed.
Fighters do.
In the end, that’s what makes the Pacquiao-Marquez rematch tonight at Las Vegas Mandalay Bay so compelling. It’s a personal duel between scarred super-featherweights with different, yet equally dangerous skills. Only they can conquer and counter the danger.
The guess is that one – and only one – will prevail in a long-anticipated rematch of their draw in 2004 when Marquez got up from three first-round knockdowns. To this day, Marquez believes his early grit and later generalship should have earned him a victory.
“Everybody knows I won that fight,” said Marquez, (48-3-1, 35 KOs) who won a tuneup in November over Rocky Juarez at Desert Diamond Casino south of Tucson and has been training for Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) at 15,000 feet in Toluca, a volcano, near Mexico City.
Since the draw, Marquez left Bob Arum, lost a bout in Indonesia, signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and watched Pacquiao batter Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, two of the best in Mexico’s rich ring tradition.
He is aware his countrymen are desperate for an end to the Pacquiao tsunami. But his age, 34, and the Pacquiao phenomenon leaves doubts about whether he can do what Morales and Barrera could not.
Pacquiao, 29, might not have been at his whirlwind best in his last fight, a tactical decision over Barrera in October. There’s been talk that Pacquiao was distracted by any number of other interests. He was either playing politics, or poker, or pool, or basketball, or all of the above. But there might be some bad news in all of that for the disciplined Marquez, who also beat Barrera by a decision a year ago. Even if he was at less than his best, Pacquiao still beat Barrera, one of the best in Mexico and anywhere else.
Then, there’s a subplot. Pacquiao is the designated star, although Marquez has the title – the World Boxing Council’s version of the 130-pound championship.
Plans are for Pacquiao, jointly promoted by Arum and De La Hoya, to jump up to lightweight. Then, who knows? For at least a year, there’s been talk about Pacquiao-vs.-De La Hoya. It has always sounded unlikely, because of the difference in weight. De La Hoya last fought at welterweight, 147. He’s been as heavy as a middleweight, 160. However, he started his career at 130, the current weight for Pacquiao, who started as a junior flyweight (108).
There were reports this week that Arum is serious about the possibility. That puts Marquez in an awkward spot. His current promoter is De La Hoya, who presumably would fight Pacquiao at a catch weight – say, 138 pounds. There probably would be very big money in Pacquiao-De La Hoya. But Marquez could kill the possibility, or at least delay it with an upset of both Pacquiao and his own promoter.
