Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez II
PACQUIAO-MARQUEZ OR MARQUEZ-PACQUIAO IV
San Francisco, CA– It wasn’t the fight that Manny Pacquiao wanted. In fact, with Manny announcing that he is running for Governor in his native Philippines in 2013, I wonder if he wants to fight at all? Against Tim Bradley in June, whether you agree with the split verdict or not, Pacquiao looked old, slow and one dimensional as all he was throwing was straight left hands. Fighting Bradley again wasn’t in the cards as Tim’s style isn’t worth the risk of possibly losing again. Instead on December 8, Pacquiao will face his arch nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez.
MARQUEZ BEAT PAC & PAC BEAT BRADLEY!
Such is the sport of boxing, but this is what the majority of pundits feel, that last November Marquez beat Pacquiao and was given a gift. These same railbirds feel that Pacquiao defeated Bradley. I thought the Bradley-Pacquiao fight was closer than some people had it, this seeing I watched the fight sans any HBO “influencing” from their announcing team led by cheerleader Jim Lampley. That being said, I thought the third fight with Marquez, who has yet to beat Pacquiao as they had a draw the first time, Pacquiao won controversially the second tango, but the controversy paled in comparison to their third fight last November.
BOTH GUYS ARE CLOSE TO HANGING THEM UP!
Marquez is a 39-year old Mexican National who has went 54-6-1, 39 KOs during a 19 year career that began in 1993 with a disqualification loss. Pacquiao, who in the minds of most pugilistic experts has slipped some will be 34 years old in late December. His professional record is 54-4-2, 38 KOs and has won alphabet titles at 112, 122, 126, 135, 140, 147 & 154. The only times Pacquiao beat the clearly beat the best guy in a division was the fight at 140 when he drilled champion Ricky Hatton with a brutal one-punch knockout in 2009. From this perch, that was Pacquiao’s finest moment. The upset of Marco Antonio Barrera was another truly defining performance as were the 2 KOs of Erik Morales. The catch weight fights I’m not so excited about.
MANNY TOOK THE WRONG GUY TO THE DANCE!
The saddest part of this whole scenario was that Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum made a power move and may have been a bit too greedy. Earlier this year Pacquiao could have agreed to fight Floyd Mayweather, the unbeaten “Pound for Pound” king for huge bucks in May. But they instead thought they could take on Bradley and flip Mayweather off at the same time. Instead, Manny got screwed and has lost the “upper hand” when it comes to negotiations that he walked out on almost three years ago when refusing to adhere to Floyd’s demand of “Olympic Style Random Drug Testing.” Pacquiao’s situation reminds me of a guy with two dates, meaning he goes out with the lesser one thinking that he could always come back and grab #1. But something happened, the Bradley fight and now a date with Mayweather means less money and prestige. The Marquez fight will be at 144 lbs. and held in Las Vegas.
Pedro Fernandez