BEFORE Milan Melindo, Rocky Fuentes and Florante Condes lace their boots for their upcoming fight on Nov. 27, they will first be spectators in one of the biggest fights of this year, between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito this Sunday at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas.
The three talented pugilists will take a brief rest from their rigorous training to watch their hero, Pacquiao, gun for his eighth division world title, which they believe he will obtain this weekend.
The trio, who are slated to headline the ?Pinoy Pride 2?Best of the Best? boxing show at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City, thinks that Pacquiao will walk out victorious, with the fight likely not going the distance.
But Melindo, Fuentes and Condes are separated by their predictions on which round the fight will end.
?That will be a great fight. Pacquiao will be challenged because Margarito is big, but he will destroy Margarito like what he did to (Oscar) de la Hoya. The bigger and the more the odds are against him, the more he (Pacquiao) will be challenged because he is a warrior,? said the 22-year-old Melindo, who will be in the biggest test of his career against former world champion and Olympian Carlos Tamara. ?Pacquiao will target the body. If the fight won?t be dirty, then he will win in seven.?
Tough
Fuentes, on the other hand, feels that it would be a tough fight for the 31-year-old pound-for-pound king, who is 4.5 inches shorter than his Mexican opponent, but he doesn?t see Margarito winning this despite the huge size disparity.
?Pacquiao will have a hard time, but he will still win. Margarito is big but Pacquiao is used to fighting bigger fighters. Margarito will fall in the eighth or ninth round,? said the 22-year-old Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight titlist, who will be defending his crown against Thai challenger Inthanon Sithchamuang. Little Pacauiao
Condes, whose ring moniker is ?Little Pacquiao,? believes that two scenarios will likely happen in this fight.
?I will still go for Manny Pacquiao. If he won?t knock him out, then he will win by a huge margin on points,? said the former International Boxing Federation mini-flyweight titleholder, who is facing Japanese Kenichi Horikawa.
Although he believes that the bout could be decided by the judges, he is more certain that the 32-year-old Mexican former world champion will end up on the canvass. ?Margarito is really big but he can?t knockout Manny. A knock out will happen and it won?t reach 12.?
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 10, 2010.
