I want him to be at his best - Manny Paquiao

IF you know your boxing, you would agree that the March 2008 battle between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez was one of the best judged fights in the history of the sport.
For the record, judges Duane Ford and Tom Miller scored it 115-112 and 114-113, respectively, for Pacquiao, while Jerry Roth had it 115-112 for Marquez.

Most, if not all boxing experts agree the Marquez-Pacquiao II was a tightly-fought 12-round contest.

Even the fighters themselves agree it was a tough bout for both of them.

It’s understandable that Marquez keeps on claiming he won the second bout. Actually, he kept on saying he won even their initial bout back in 2004.

But to say he was robbed of a win is unfair to the sport in general, which accomplished some sort of a feat by having three judges score the Marquez-Pacquiao rematch the way it should be tallied.

MILLION BUYS. From the looks of it, the Pacquiao versus Marquez fight this November will easily get millions of pay-per-view Buys.

Last weekend, the four-city worldwide tour ended in Mexico with thousands of Mexicans attending the final stop. The tour started in Manila.

American promoter Bob Arum and Mexican boxing icon Marco Antonio Barrera were in awe as they never saw such huge crowd gather in the city for a boxing event.

Arum said aside from the close verdicts that decided their first two bouts, the styles of Pacquiao and Marquez is what makes this fight the most anticipated bout of the year.

Pacquiao will defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown against Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This will be the third meeting between the two multi-division champions. Their first fight ended in a draw in 2004, while their rematch saw Pacquiao escaping with a split decision win in 2008.

BEST EVER. Pacquiao is hoping to meet the same Marquez that gave him a tough time in their two battles the last five years.

Though relatively old in the sport of boxing, the 38-year-old Marquez remains as the only fighter, who came close to beating Pacquiao.

“I want him to be at his best because If I beat him, I don’t want to hear people telling me he is already old or past his prime,” Pacquiao told newsmen in a round-table discussion during their stop in New York.

In 2004, Marquez came back from three knockdowns in the first round to settle for a draw in their featherweight encounter.

Four years later, Pacquiao decked Marquez in the third round to escape with a close, but split 12-round verdict in their superfeatherweight encounter.

For their third fight, Pacquiao said he will be adding two more weeks from his usual eight-week training that will commence in Baguio this month.

GAG ORDER. Will someone tell Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to just focus on his upcoming fight and leave Pacquiao alone?

For the nth time, Mayweather is putting the blame on Pacquiao on why their much talked about face-off remains uncertain.

Recently, Mayweather told mediamen that former opponent Shane Mosley has told him to force Pacquiao to take the test before he agrees to a fight.

Mosley reportedly claimed he has never been hit by a punch that is as strong as Pacquiao’s punches.

In his last fight, Mosley lost a one-sided decision to Pacquiao last May in Las Vegas.

Currently, Mayweather is busy promoting his welterweight battle against Mexican-American Victor Ortiz this Sunday (Manila Time).

Reporters, however, kept on pestering Mayweather with questions involving Pacquiao.

On the other hand, Pacquiao has insisted he has agreed to the testing protocol of Mayweather, but feels the American is just finding ways to avoid the match.

At the moment, Pacquiao prefers to focus on his Nov. 12 clash opposite bitter Mexicam rival Juan Manuel Marquez.

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