LAS VEGAS ? Larry Merchant, the hard-hitting boxing commentator for HBO, knows a good match-up when he sees one.
Manny Pacquiao versus Juan Manuel Marquez Part II, he said on the eve of the big fight, should definitely be one of them.
?I?m looking forward to the fight,? he said just outside the Events Center at Mandalay Bay where he watched the card?s official weigh-in.
Merchant, a sports columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News and general reporter for The New York Post before joining HBO in 1978, can?t wait to work the fight.
It should be a 12-round battle for the WBC super-featherweight champion, and a great sequel to their 2004 showdown that ended in a controversial draw.
?I?m curious about the changes in the two fighters since the first time they fought,? he said.
Pacquiao, Merchant explained, has become a more ?well-rounded fighter? than he was four years ago, while Marquez has become a ?more aggressive fighter.?
?We should have a very good fight. I don?t know if we?d have the drama we had in the first fight,? he said as he tried to look back to that night at the MGM.
Marquez was knocked down thrice in the first round of that fight then essayed probably the biggest comeback in recent years to salvage a draw.
?I?m not sure if there?s ever been a fight where there were three knockdowns in the first round and the guy who was knocked down coming back the same way Marquez did.
?Now we?ve waited for this fight for four years. Both fighters are in peak condition. This means a lot to both of them,? said Merchant, who just turned 77.
For Marquez, he said, it?s an opportunity to get out from under the shadows of fellow Mexicans Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.
And for Pacquiao, ?it?s a chance to see what the rest of his career is going to look like.?
Merchant said if Pacquiao wins, fight fans may next see the Filipino superstar fighting in the heavier lightweight class.
?We may see him in big fights,? said Merchant, who strongly believes that Pacquiao can carry his punch to a heavier class, and still be a force to reckon with.
Merchant said to beat Marquez, and reaffirm his status as the Mexican assassin, Pacquiao should show his versatility and be able to use his right hand effectively.
?When a puncher is as good as he (Pacquiao) is, as quick as he is, the opponent?s first job is to neutralize that punch. And a fighter like Marquez is good enough to try to neutralize it,? Merchant said.
But first, the Mexican champion has to decide ?what kind of a fight he wants.?
Merchant said Marquez ?can get emotionally involved against a relentless, aggressive fighter or use his technical skills and try to take over the fight.?
He has no prediction to make. Just a hunch.
?I have a hunch that it?s not ?gonna go the distance, and that there?ll be some kind of a late stoppage,? said the HBO genius.
But it?s just a hunch.
