The first and only time Juan Manuel Marquez fought as a welterweight, he was knocked down and dominated over 12 rounds by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2009. Two years and two months later, he’ll be in the same MGM Grand ring in Las Vegas, fighting as a welterweight for a second time. But this time he is confident the outcome will be different — not just because he has fought Saturday’s opponent, Manny Pacquiao, before and not just because he has taken a different approach to building himself up to the requisite weight.
“The biggest difference, obviously, is that Mayweather doesn’t come to fight,” he told a small group of reporters at the MGM on Monday. “He’s a defensive fighter, he’s not going to give you anything.” By contrast, “Pacquiao is a great fighter, a spectacular fighter who’s coming for you. We’re going to be ready for him, and if he makes a mistake, we’re going to make him pay for it. The other guy wouldn’t make a mistake. He wouldn’t fight.”
It is, Marquez said, Pacquiao’s relentless aggression that, as well as making for more compelling viewing, makes him a better fit for the way he fights.
“They always say that styles make fights, and I think my style happens to be difficult,” he said. “All boxers have a difficult opponent, and I guess my style is the most difficult for Pacquiao.”
It’s a sentiment with which the fight’s promoter, Bob Arum, agrees.
“It really comes down to the fact that the style of Marquez is such that it will always give Manny Pacquiao trouble,” Arum said. “Manny only knows one style, and that’s to attack, and Marquez is probably the best counterpuncher in boxing today, and he gets aggressive off the counterpunching. That will still be there, and Marquez has great recuperative powers.”
Even so, Arum acknowledges that, for this upcoming third contest between the two men, Pacquiao will be the favorite, although he insists that it isn’t because this bout will be fought at welterweight — 17 pounds heavier than their last encounter — a division in which the Filipino has been comfortable for two years.
