Marquez impressed by Pacquiao’s performance against Bradley

For the man who inflicted on Manny Pacquiao the worst loss of his Hall of Fame career, Juan Manuel Marquez was also the first to admit he witnessed the best the Filipino boxing icon could offer when he dominated Timothy Bradley for 12 rounds to regain the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title last month.

Marquez made the disclosure during the media conference call for his May 17 (May 18, PHL time) fight against Mike Alvarado at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles.

Now 40-years-old, the Mexican pugilist acknowledged being impressed with the way his longtime rival moved and fought against the previously unbeaten Bradley.

“Right now, Pacquiao is using his feet very well. He moves in the ring. I saw the best Manny Pacquiao because he landed a lot of punches and was moving on his feet,” said Marquez, who stunned the boxing world in 2012 when he knocked the Filipino out cold in the sixth round of their historic fourth meeting in Las Vegas.

“I like the way Manny Pacquiao fought very much.”

Top Rank Promotions’ Bob Arum said he’s likely to offer the winner of the Marquez-Alvarado bout a chance to face Pacquiao before the year ends.

“It’s up to the winner to accept or reject it,” said the veteran promoter, who added he already talked to Pacquiao about the matter, with the reigning welterweight champion amenable to facing either Marquez or Alvarado.

While facing Pacquiao has always been a challenge, Marquez said he’s definitely not looking past Alvarado, the former WBO world light-welterweight champion who is coming off a 10th-round technical knockout loss to former Pacquiao sparmate Ruslan Provodnikov.

“My thinking is first things first. My thoughts right now are on Mike Alvarado,” said Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs), a loser by split decision to Bradley in his only fight last year.

“If I win the fight, then I will think about Manny Pacquiao. I will fight the fight on Saturday then go from there.” - Gerry Ramos, SPIN