Pacquiao out for the KO against Marquez

“If those two fight ten times, all ten would be close fights.” This was what Freddie Roach said about Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez while preparing for their third fight. “Although I think Manny is going to knock Marquez out in this fight,” he added.

 

Most boxing pundits agreed with Roach. Pacquiao, many felt, was too big and strong

in the welterweight division for Marquez. But Roach’s prediction did not happen. The

fight played out similar to the first two fights. Pacquiao escaped with a majority decision

victory but the result left more questions than answers.

 

This is why on December 8, the two will renew their rivalry again. And this time, it’s the

fighter, not the coach, who’s predicting a knockout.

 

“I want to show them the old Manny Pacquiao, when I was 24 or 25 years old, the hungry

Manny Pacquiao to fight in the ring,” said the former WBO welterweight champion. “I

need to make this fight short so there would be no doubts.”

 

Pacquiao chose to fight Marquez for the fourth time instead of exercising his rematch

clause against Timothy Bradley, the fighter who took Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight

title.

 

“So many people ask if I really won the fight. I say ‘Yes, I won the fight’ but Marquez

also says he won the fights so there’s something wrong,” Pacquiao said in jest.

 

The fighting Congressman of Sarangani province may be telling jokes now but he knows

what he needs to happen and he also knows that it is going to take a lot of hard work to

do it.

 

“I’m happy to fight Marquez again. This fight is going to be a great fight. I want to erase

the doubt of the fans in boxing,” Pacquiao said.

 

Marquez, for his part, thanked Bob Arum and Pacquiao for the opportunity he thought

was never going to come. “Now I have a tough challenge for me,” Marquez said. “The

best thing about this fight is that Manny Pacquiao knows me and I know him.”

 

The Mexican champion has always been adamant in his claim that he won the three fights

but the judges took it away from him, and he is taking this opportunity to prove his point.

 

“People say ‘Why pacquiao again?’ It’s because I want to prove who’s better and I

want the referee to raise my hand,” Marquez said. “I’ll train very hard for December 8

because I don’t like the fight to go to the judges’ decision because everybody knows what

happened in the last three fights.” - RAF, GMA News