Three and a half years ago, in March 2008, Juan Manuel Marquez fought his heart out against Manny Pacquiao for the second time. After earning a draw against Pacquiao in May 2004, Marquez was certain he had beaten him in the rematch.
But Pacquiao won a split decision, sparking a tantrum by Marquez and his team in the post-fight news conference at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. By all accounts it was a close fight and Marquez and Golden Boy Promotions – then his promoter – acted like Marquez dominated Pacquiao.
In Marquez’s mind, he is 2-0 against Pacquiao. In reality, he’s 0-1-1. And until he recently signed to fight Pacquiao a third time, the Mexico City native thought he’d likely never get another crack at the Filipino congressman.
“Yes, I think that third fight was not going to happen for me,” said Marquez, speaking to a large group of reporters at Wednesday’s Beverly Hills news conference promoting his welterweight world title fight against Pacquiao on Nov. 12 at MGM Grand (on HBO pay-per-view).
“But I feel happy because I want this fight. Everybody knows I want this fight.”
He has made no bones about that for quite some time.
“This fight is very important to me,” Marquez said. “I will be trying very hard for the victory. I am training very hard because I want to win.”
In the worst way.
