When Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) squares off against Juan Manuel Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs) for the third time on Saturday, it will have been over three and a half years since last they met. On March 12, 2008 Pacquiao walked away with an extremely close and competitive split decision victory in a fight many people felt Marquez deserved to win. As it turned out this would be Pacquiao?s last fight at 130 pounds, as he would soon make the move up to 135. A lot of fans were disappointed that Pacquiao did not immediately mix it up again with Marquez, but most figured their paths would cross again sooner or later. Few could have predicted, however, that Pacquiao would go on one of the most impressive runs in boxing history before a third fight with Marquez would finally take place.
When Pacquiao challenged David Diaz on June 28, 2008 for the WBC lightweight title it was widely viewed as nothing more than a testing the waters fight. Not many were expecting Pacquiao to lose. If the controversial win Diaz scored against common opponent Erik Morales told us anything, it suggested that at worst Pacquiao should be able to win a decisive points victory. The real question was whether or not Pacquiao could carry his power up with him. He did. He administered a prolonged beating on a very courageous but overmatched Diaz who finally succumbed to the assault in round nine. It was a good win for Pacquiao, but nothing sensational. Diaz was basically viewed as nothing more than a belt holder, as the top dogs at the time were Juan Diaz (unified champ) and Joel Casamayor (linear champ) when Pacquiao signed to take on David Diaz. Incidentally, Juan Diaz lost his titles to Nate Campbell a week earlier. So it seemed there were some fairly decent opportunities at 135, but Pacquiao had bigger fish to fry.
The prospect of a fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao seemed laughable when news first broke. In fact it was very poorly received by the general boxing public. Pacquiao, after all, had just one fight at lightweight! Oscar was fighting at junior middleweight for the last seven-plus years! How could Pacquiao possibly overcome the gargantuan size advantage enjoyed by De La Hoya? Very few observers were even giving Pacquiao a remote chance in this one. Sheer physics suggested that Pacquiao was in for a prolonged beating. This was not the same as Shane Mosley bypassing 140 for a mega payday with De La Hoya eight years earlier. Mosley had been a career lightweight moving up to welter, whereas Pacquiao had started his career at 106 pounds! This one had ?mismatch? written all over it, and what a mismatch it was! Only it was De La Hoya who got thoroughly dominated and outclassed by the speedy pinpoint precision punching from Manny Pacquiao. This was December 6, 2008.
A new superstar emerged.
