pacquiao marquez

Pacquiao loss unlikely, but it could be good thing

Manny Pacquiao sometimes slams his fists against each side of his forehead, as if to awaken himself. he also throws his hands straight up in the air when his opponent provides duress.

If you have forgotten those mannerisms, it’s not you. It’s him.

Manny Pacquiao, left, and Juan Manuel Marquez face off during an official weigh-in ceremony Friday in Las Vegas.JAE C. HONG, AP ADVERTISEMENT

Pacquiao’s recent fights have been advanced, high-buck calisthenics, nothing more.

Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley tried hypnotism, or at least inertia, to make Pacquiao nod off. Antonio Margarito, not such a beast with unadulterated gloves, engaged Pacquiao but gave him no stress.

Maybe Saturday night, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will be more, or less, of the same.

Juan Manuel Marquez is 37 and will be fighting beyond 140 pounds for just the second time. The first time was a shutout loss at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

But Marquez does know he can make Pacquiao squirm and worry and bash his own face. he did it in 2004 and again in 2008. If Marquez can hunt as well as he haunts, he could bring out the best in Pacquiao, or at least make him try to find it.

Freddie Roach trains Pacquiao and has said all along there won’t be a round 7 Saturday.

He also has said, all along: “It worries me a little bit. there always is somebody out there who has your number.”

He isn’t alone. Naazim Richardson, trainer of Mosley and Bernard Hopkins, has a connossieur’s appreciation of Marquez, who combines a proud Mexican chin with a mastery of technique and counter-punching.

“He’s one of my favorite fighters,” Richardson said of Marquez. “He’s a guy that learned it from the ground up. I imagine Manny will win. But watch and see what Marquez does. he can turn him, do things that make him uncomfortable.”

Obviously, Marquez and Pacquiao shouldn’t have spaced their fights in four-year intervals.

The 2004 draw was one of the very best fights of that decade and one of the most dramatic anywhere.

Pacquiao, bouncing around in predatory fashion, floored Marquez three times in the first round with left hands. But by the third round Marquez had slowed the pace and found a launch point for his right hands, and Pacquiao looked confused until the final two rounds.

The real drama came after the bell. two judges scored it 115-110 in favor of different fighters. Burt Clements voted for a draw. But Clements gave Pacquiao a 10-7 edge in the first round because he didn’t think he was permitted to give a 10-6. he was. had he done so, Pacquiao would have won.

Pacquiao cried in his dressing room and his camp formally protested, without result.

The second fight, in 2008, was a split decision by one point, for Pacquiao, and a knockdown in the third round provided that point. Marquez was reprieved by the bell and lurched toward the wrong corner. It was a cleaner, harder knockout than any of the ones in 2004.

Pacquiao also head-butted Marquez and opened a cut near his eye. But, again, Marquez thundered back whenever Pacquiao lofted a indifferent jab instead of constructing a thoughtful one. When the final bell sounded, HBO analyst Larry Merchant said, “It’s another draw.”

Since then Marquez is 5-1 with four knockouts, and Pacquiao is 7-0 with four knockouts and has hardly lost a round. Almost nothing has been demanded of Pacquiao since he stopped Miguel Cotto in 12 rounds, three years ago.

Much is made over Pacquiao’s development since 2004, when the two were fighting at 125 pounds (Pacquiao was 143 on Friday, Marquez 142). in 2004 Pac-man was wholly left handed. he couldn’t play much defense. his weapons were the two basic tools, power and speed, with which he was born.

Emanuel Steward pointed out that Pacquiao could be pursued, that he couldn’t hurt you if he was moving backward. Has that changed? Hard to know. No opponent has wanted to explore it.

If boredom and politics and the lush life were going to claim Pacquiao they would have done so by now. he still has the Mayweather carrot out there to pursue, especially if it’s really sprouting next May.

Marquez also threw a log on Pac-Man’s fire by proclaiming that he won both previous fights, with T-shirts to that effect, when the media tour went to Phillippines.

The ideal outcome, for boxing, would be another split decision or even a Marquez victory, because it might lead to a rematch, and give Mayweather enough confidence to actually sign on the dotted line with Pacquiao. “Maybe he’ll fight us then,” a smiling Roach told ESPN.com this week.

A fun night awaits, and maybe some Marquez moments, but ultimately no reason for Pacquiao to beat himself up.

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Pacquiao-Marquez III: Juan Manuel Fights for Redemption

Like many of his fans, Juan Manuel Márquez believes he should have won his previous fights against Manny Pacquiao.

“I think we haven’t had the results,” Marquez told Fox News Latino after a recent workout. “It hasn’t gone the way people expected it and the way the judges saw the fight and how we expected it to be.” 

In their first match-up in 2004, Márquez was knocked down not once, but three times, only to battle back and go the full 12 rounds against Pacman. 

Despite his efforts, the judges saw the fight differently and scored it a draw in their first meeting back. during the rematch in 2008, Márquez was once again knocked down early but fought from behind. 

At the end of the match, however, the judge gave the win and Márquez’s Super Featherweight belt to Pacquiao, despite CompuBox statistics saying that Márquez landed more jabs and power punches than Pacquiao.

Fast forward to Saturday night, when the Mexico City native will try one more time in his 18-year career to get that elusive win against the person many consider the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world.

If Márquez wants to snap Pacquiao’s streak of 14 straight victories, he could take some pointers from countryman Erik Morales, who in 2005 was the last fighter to be the Filipino fighter.

Márquez said that he is confident in the pre-fight strategy set-up by legendary trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristáin. 

“What we’re going to do differently this time around is work a lot on my speed and strength,” Márquez said. “All of the experience that I’ve had throughout my career will be essential for this fight.”

For his fight against Pacquiao, Márquez will return to the welterweight division after claiming his last three wins as a lightweight, including June’s controversial fight against Colombian Likar Ramos, who many suspect took a dive to the mat and wasn’t really knocked out. 

The Mexican fighter lost by unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2009 while fighting in that weight class and afterward said that he would not fight as a welterweight because it robbed him of his speed.

“We’ve been working very hard. For this fight we have been working hard to get to the weight that we want. I think that the work that we have put forth, the change that we have gone over has worked for us,” he said.

The Azteca Guerrero, who’s been guided by courage and determination throughout his many years in the ring, claims that his body and state of mind are ready for Saturday night.

“I’m not sensing anything,” Márquez said. “I think that this preparation and what I have done in my training sessions have given me the peace of mind and the confidence I need to come in well into this fight. I’m not feeling any type of pressure.”

Win, lose or draw, one question remains: will the veteran keep fighting. Márquez was coy in his response.

“I don’t know,” Márquez said. “We’re focused on the fight and independently of the results, we will see what happens. We’re are going to come concentrated to win and we’re not thinking about it before the fight but think independently of what happens (after the fight).”

Adry Torres, who has covered MLB, NFL, NBA and NCAA basketball games and related events, is a regular contributor to Fox News Latino. He can be reached at elpiloto137@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @adrytorresnyc.

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Pacquiao-Marquez III: Will it be third time Lucky for Marquez or will Pacman’s amazing run continue

By Peter Wells: Usually when fighters have two classic wars that are so close that those watching can’t agree on who won then both those fighters will both go on to greater fights. But sometimes there’s an exception. Manny Pacquiao has gone on to become the best boxer on the planet and beaten everyone put in front of him with ease.

His only competitor in the PPV department is also his greatest rival in boxing, which shows how popular the Philipino icon has become. As for Juan Manuel Marquez he’s had to pull himself back up, fighting the top guys out there that no one else wants to fight. Now he has another chance to take what he believes he deserves.

In the first fight it looked over after just one round, when Juan Manuel Marquez hit the deck on three occasions. It was a tremendous fight back from the Mexican warrior but on my card it just about wasn’t enough. But one of the judges Burt a. Clements scored the bout 113-113 and only scored the first round 10-7 to Pacquiao even though the three knockdowns meant it should have been scored 10-6. his excuse was that he didn’t think that they could score below 10-7 – i guess we’ll take his word for that.

The rematch took a while to happen but once again the only man to hit the canvas was Marquez, but this time only once. It was another classic and in my book i had it dead even but i don’t dispute the Split decision in favour of Pacquiao.

Since that defeat he went on to beat Joel Casamayor (W TKO 11), in a highly entertaining and competitive fight, which was a draw going into the 11th round. then he won another classic fight against “Baby Bull” Juan Diaz (W TKO 9), again the fight was even going into the 9th round. Next up was a needless money fight against the man known as “Money”. Floyd Mayweather’s return fight was as easy as a sparring session as he knocked down Marquez on route to a one way unanimous decision. It was just another example of how styles make fights. afterwards he stepped back down to Lightweight where he defeated Juan Diaz in a less exciting rematch which he won by decision. another classic followed when he defeated Michael Katsidis (W TKO 9) in a see-saw bout which saw Marquez hit the deck again. then in a warm up fight he knocked out uninterested challenger Likar Ramos (W KO 1).

As for Pacquiao it’s just got better as he stormed into the Lightweight division dismantling David Diaz (W TKO 9), then captured the sporting world by surprise when he defeated and retired another Mexican legend in Oscar de La Hoya (W RTD 8). then he dropped to Light Welterweight to take out “the Hitman” Ricky Hatton(W KO 2) and then won the WBO Welterweight title off Miguel Cotto (W TKO 12). After a bunch of exciting fights, that run ended when Joshua Clottey came to survive – and survive he did – in a 12 round bore. Antonio Margarito spiced things up a bit but was ultimately beaten up in another one-sided affair. Shane Mosley then made it a hat-trick of fighters to make it to the end against Manny but like Clottey he came for the cheque.

Many believe that Marquez having to move up in weight will give Manny a huge advantage but it’s hard to see this being nothing less than a close fight. Manny’s and Juan’s styles are just made to make a classic fight no matter how many times they fight.

Pacquiao is likely to be the aggressor but i’m sure he’ll be more controlled in his attacks than usual. Freddie Roach seems certain that a knockout is what is in store for Pacquiao, but i believe he’ll need something extra special to do that. Marquez may well hit the canvas but it’ll be a competitive and enjoyable fight for sure. I believe the final verdict will be close enough for Marquez to leave with his head held high knowing he went close to beating the best fighter of his era on three occasions. Share and Enjoy:

Pacquiao vs Marquez 3: Pacquiao earnings to exceed $22M in Marquez fight?

Pacquiao vs Marquez 3 Image Credit: top Rank

Manny Pacquiao will receive a guaranteed earnings of $22 million in his third bout versus Juan Manuel Marquez, on Saturday, November 12, 2011 in Las Vegas.(Sunday in Manila) however, Philippines veteran boxing analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz expects that Pacquiao‘s earnings will go up significantly due to Pay-Per-View (PPV) sales.

Nathanielsz said that Pacquiao will earn more from PPV and other related income that will result the Filipino boxing hero’s earnings to exceed his guaranteed purse of $22 million. the veteran analyst clarified in an interview with ANC’s Dateline Philippines that “if all the other rights including PPV is $30 million, Manny will get $30 million, not $22 million plus $30 million or a total of $52 million. Guaranteed means win or lose — if the PPV does badly and income is less than $22 million — he still gets $22 million.”

According to Nathanielsz, Pacquiao will keep about 50% of his gross earnings in the fight after deducting tax (about 30 to 35 percent) and other expenses.

Marquez has a guaranteed fight purse of $5 million in his third and maybe the final fight against Pacquiao.

Pacquiao vs Marquez Undercard Odds: Timothy Bradley Over a -2000 Favorite Against Casamayor

One of the things that top Rank has been hoping with the Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez undercard tonight is that nobody, or very few of the people watching the show will have seen 40-year-old former lightweight world champion Joel Casamayor fight since 2008, because it hasn’t been pretty.

When they made the decision to match Casamayor against unbeaten junior welterweight Timothy Bradley in the main co-feature fight of the card, boxing fans who knew better groaned. Some vomited. Some screamed and ran into the night. Not only is Casamayor an ugly fighter who doesn’t make for good fights, but he isn’t even good anymore.

It looks like the sportsbooks have seen him, or at least encountered one of those screaming boxing fans running back out of the woods, and asked them what happened, because as big a favorite as Manny Pacquiao is tonight, you can more than double it for Bradley on some books: Sportsbook Bradley Casamayor5Dimes-2150+1300BetUS-2500+900Bodog-2000+900SBG Global-2200+1200Sportsbook.com-2000+1000

To say this makes for a laughable “semi main event” is an understatement. if you want to win $100 on Timothy Bradley, you have to fork over anywhere from $2000 to $2500.

After the jump: Alvarado vs Prescott and Cruz vs Burgos odds.

The other and better 140-pound fight features Colorado’s Mike Alvarado, a 31-year-old guy who’s still a prospect after years of screwing up his career outside the ring, against Breidis Prescott, that dude that once knocked out Amir Khan and hasn’t done much since. I think this could be a real trap fight for Alvarado, who is talented but has actually never fought anyone as good as the limited Prescott. Prescott had his best performance (well, best that went past 54 seconds) in September against Paul McCloskey, and I really thought he deserved the win in that fight. these are fair odds, though; Alvarado is the house fighter and the fight has been made because top Rank thinks he’ll win. Sportsbook Alvarado Prescott5Dimes-600+450BetUS-600+400Bodog-450+300SBG Global-550+350Sportsbook.com-525+325

On paper the night’s most evenly matched fight is the 130-pound bout between Luis Cruz of Puerto Rico, and Mexico’s Juan Carlos Burgos. With narrow odds favoring top Rank’s Cruz, that holds up on the books. this could be the fight of the night, as it is by far the biggest fight either has had televised in America. Sportsbook Cruz Burgos5Dimes-165+145BetUS-175+145Bodog-155+125SBG Global-165+135Sportsbook.com-140+110