Underdog Boxing: No more Mr. Nice Guy for Pacquiao

For more FTW videos, visit GMANews.TV FTW “Manny told me he wants to end this early." Nonoy Neri, one of the members of Manny Pacquiao’s entourage, told me this while we were seated in one of the odd corners of the Shape-Up Boxing Gym in Baguio while the champion was busy preparing for his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. “But I told him that if he wants to make a statement, he should punish Marquez first then knock him out," Neri added. It does sound cocky but I understand where he was coming from. Sometimes Pacquiao needs a little bit of prodding. He has often eased up on opponents because he does not want to cause them any more pain. He could have easily knocked out Oscar Larios and Marco Antonio Barrera in their second meeting but he refused to. He could have roughed up Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley and talked smack to them for not fighting but he didn’t. He just apologized to the crowd for not being able to give them the fight they want as if it was his fault. Against Marquez, this will not be a problem. I’ve witnessed Pacquiao’s training camp for Mosley and for Marquez and there is a palpable intensity surrounding Pacquiao about the latter. He was a little too relaxed in preparation for his fight against Mosley, perhaps because he knew Mosley was just in this fight for a final payday. This is definitely not the case for his fight against Marquez. Pacquiao hates the fact that some consider Marquez to be the better fighter. He loathes it when he hears Marquez claim that he won both fights. He has not talked a lot but the silence from Pacquiao should be more bothering for the Marquez camp. It only shows that the reigning WBO welterweight champion is dead serious about this fight. “I’ll finish this rivalry," he told me when I asked him on his thoughts about fighting Marquez again. There was certainty in his voice. In the past, if you asked Pacquiao what round he’ll get the knockout, he’ll evade the question. His generic answer is always “I’ll just do my best." But for this fight, you won’t even have to ask him. Pacquiao does not bear any kind of hate towards Marquez. What he hates is the idea in some people’s minds that Marquez is better than him. Although Pacquiao was irked by Marquez’ tactics such as the “Marquez beat Pacquiao twice" shirts and the coming to Manila to challenge Pacquiao bit, he has never retaliated. He never said anything bad about Marquez but on Sunday Pacquiao will make Marquez pay for all his past transgressions. He’s not going for the knockout to hurt Marquez. He wants to do it to prove a point. The first fight against Marquez was the one that got away for Pacquiao. The second fight was good but it could have been better. In this third fight, Pacquiao is out to show us something that we will all remember forever. - OMG, GMA News