Pacquaio-Marquez 4 Preview

There are countless problems in Boxing, and we as fans should speak out about them, however, there are times when the sport gets it right too. The last time Manny Pacquaio faced Juan Manuel Marquez I spent a good portion of my blog trying to convince people that the scales would not change what goes on between these two greats. Thankfully it appears the notion that Marquez was a dead man walking because of the weight is behind us. Unfortunately, there seems to be a large contingent that deems this fourth meeting pointless because….wait for it….they’re too close in skills and will never produce a clear and decisive victory. That’s right; they shouldn’t fight because it’s too competitive. Get the eff out of here with that nonsense, by all means don’t buy the PPV if you don’t want to but don’t try and tell me that two of the best fighters in the world, and of all time, who have already fought thirty-six captivating rounds, squaring off again is bad for the sport. The judges blew the last fight, but that’s no reason not to give them, and Marquez, another shot. These two will always produce something compelling, sign me up as many times as they want to do it, boxing got this right.

Anybody reading knows the participants; I won’t bore you with details of their epic careers or even with recaps of the first three fights. Let’s just get down to this one.

Manny has looked a tad less explosive recently, some of that looked like apathy (Mosley), some of it looked like his opponent (Marquez) and some of it looked like shitty judging (Bradley). I thought he looked damn good against Timmy, these bigger fighters are not going to fall easily and he still possesses tremendous speed to generate above average power for the weight class. I fully expect Pacquaio to live up to his claims of being more aggressive in this fight and that would just amp up the action.

The puzzle that is Marquez is one that is missing a few pieces in the box for Pacquaio. No shame in that, the man is a genius. Where Pacman has always found his edge has been with dynamic athleticism and he needs to get back to using it. There is no way he can legitimately out-box Marquez and, frankly, it’s questionable if he can out-fight him but that is what he needs to do; explode in with his left hand and try and use his speed to connect with the more damaging shots.

Juan Manuel is doing things approaching forty that a virtually career Featherweight is not supposed to do. His training regimen (yeah, I’m not getting into that on either side) has sculpted a physique built out of scrap iron and he still maintains his beautiful leverage and counter punching prowess. The plan for him should stay exactly the same, out-box Manny and let Pacquaio dictate how furious the pace is because Marquez is equally effective if it’s tactical or if it’s a slugfest. His weakness is pursuing reluctant opponents and he damn sure won’t have one of them in the other corner.

Juan’s mentality is huge here, while many people thought he won the first two fights (I gave him the 1^st and Manny the 2^nd) none of them approached the injustice of the last fight. They were great fights that didn’t go his way. He managed to avoid the canvas and was never even remotely buzzed while he dictated the pace and scored with the stronger punches. It’s imperative that Marquez stick to what works, easier said than done but he needs to take care of his business in there and let the other important parties take care of theirs. As much as I abhor listening to teddy Atlas, he was spot on last night when he said that the fighters need to stick to their guns and the officials are the ones that need to change.

I’m anticipating a more explosive encounter this time. Pacquaio is a proud warrior and I think deep down he knows Marquez won their last fight and he feels the same sting from what they did to him against Bradley. So I think you’ll see Pac come out blazing and possibly score an early knock down while Marquez gets his engine revved up. I don’t recall the poster or the message board, so I’m going to anonymously quote someone who penned the phrase…”Punching Marquez in the face is like pressing the button on an ass kicking machine.” Truer words have never been spoken and as the middle rounds come I think that ass kicking machine will be putting it on Pacquaio more often than not. Then down the stretch I’m looking for a brief resurgence from Manny followed by Juan closing the show in style with his blistering counters and heart of steel. It will be close, but this time I think it’s going the way of Marquez and if they want it, sign me up for part IV next spring and I’ll battle the next reason why these great fighters shouldn’t share a ring.

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