Pacquiao retains crown in tight third battle with Marquez

‘Pacman’ now 2-0-1 against Mexican rival

Manny Pacquiao remains the WBO welterweight champion in an edgy trilogy bout with world lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez in a fight that could have gone either way.

The 32 year-old looked out of sorts for the first few rounds as Marquez, 38, frustrated the Filipino with his backfoot tactics and countered the champion supremely to gain the upper hand in the first half of the fight.

Pacquiao came on strong in the second half after taking a tongue lashing from trainer Freddie Roach who told him in no uncertain terms that he was losing the fight and his title.

‘Dinamita’ continued to limit the eight-time champion to only a handful of shots landing per round and could have easily won the fight by anything from two to four rounds.

As it was, Pacquiao was given a majority decision in the end to jeers from the crowd 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113 to retain his 147lb belt for the third time in his two-year reign.

A forlorn Marquez walked disgusted from the ring after the decision and avoided an after-fight interview with HBO in the ring feeling that he had been wronged by the result for the third time.

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Paquiao - Marquez lll Press Tour

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Paquiao - Marquez Tour Draws 30,000 crown in Mexico City

Sept. 8, 2011, Mexico City, Mexico -- Superstar Manny Pacquiao waves to the reported 30,000 plus fans during his public press conference in Mexico City Thursday during the world tour to announce the third world Welterweight title mega-fight of the Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy against three-division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Promoted by Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, Marquez Boxing, Tecate and MGM Grand, Pacquiao vs Marquez III will take place, Saturday, Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and be produced and distributed by HBO Pay Per View. -- Photo Credit: Chris Farina - Top Rank.

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Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will meet with Pinoys at the Quirino Grandstand this Saturday

This weekend, GMA Network, Inc. (GMA) will present to Pinoy boxing fans the prelude of the third face-off of Pacquiao vs Marquez.

Both fighters will venture on a whirlwind four-city world tour covering Manila, New York, Los Angeles and Mexico with Top Rank honcho Bob Arum to promote their upcoming bout set on November 13 (Philippine time) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

GMA Network is the exclusive broadcast partner — radio and TV — for both the World Press Tour and the fight itself.

Pacquiao, dubbed as the “greatest fighter of all time," welcomes another heated battle with Marquez after a draw in their first duel in 2004, and a tight split decision that favored him in their second match in 2008, to hopefully put a close to their “unfinished business."

For Saturday, September 3, GMA Network prepared a grand lineup of festivities at the Quirino Grandstand – a special on-ground event to be hosted by Dingdong Dantes, with the pop trio La Diva singing the Philippine national anthem, while the UST singers perform the Mexican national anthem.

An all-star cast led by Kapuso artists Ogie Alcasid, Iza Calzado, Jay-R, Kyla, Rachel Ann Go, Mark Herras, Kris Bernal, Aljur Abrenica, and many others will grace the event that will aired live from 2:30 to 4 p.m. over GMA-7. The special will also be seen live and exclusive via internet video streaming on GMA News Online.

The crowd will be further treated to a live episode of Manny, Many Prizes, the Saturday game show hosted by Pacquiao himself. Joining Pacman are his co-hosts Paolo Contis, Rhian Ramos, Gladys Guevarra, Pekto, Moymoy Palaboy, and Onyok Velasco along with guest stars Jinkee Pacquiao, Wency Cornejo, Jett Pangan, Imelda Papin, Claire dela Fuente, and many others. The episode will be telecast on the same day at 6 p.m.

Tickets for Manny Many Prizes will be distributed via three booths located along South Drive, Quirino Grandstand (Museo Pambata side) beginning 6 a.m. but spectators will be allowed entry as early as 8 a.m.

On Saturday morning, a press conference at the Manila Hotel featuring the two fighters will be aired live on GMA News TV (GNTV), while exclusive interviews will be aired over GMA’s “24 Oras", “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho", “Startalk", “Showbiz Central", and flagship AM station DZBB 594 khz.

The main event, the much awaited boxing match, will be aired straight from Las Vegas on November 13 only on GMA. — KBK, GMA News

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Tight schedule for Marquez's 4-day stay in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — With the Manila Hotel serving as the official residence, Juan Manuel Marquez will arrive in the country Thursday morning along with his handlers and a powerhouse cast from Top Rank led by big boss Bob Arum.

Marquez and the other boxing bigwigs will be here for the kickoff leg of the four-city promotional tour for his Nov. 12 rubber match with Manny Pacquiao.

Manila is the first stop and the first press conference will be staged at the Quirino Grandstand this Saturday afternoon with Pacquiao and Marquez in attendance.

Marquez will be joined by his trainer Ignacio Beristain and two key members of his entourage — Raul De Anda and Plutarco Gatica — as well as top Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran and ace publicist Fred Sternburg.

After a short welcome with the airport media upon his arrival via Philippine Airlines, Marquez will be whisked to the Manila Hotel where he and the other dignitaries will be warmly welcomed.

In the afternoon, Marquez will pay a courtesy call to Manila mayor Alfredo Lim at the City Hall followed by a live interview on 24 Oras.

In the succeeding days, Marquez will meet with the Mexican ambassador to the Philippines, honor interviews from various talk show hosts and hear mass at the Manila Cathedral on Sunday.

Marquez is also set to attend a dinner that will be hosted by Solar Sports at the Midas Hotel and grace the World Pool Master at SM North Edsa.

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Marquez will take a beating - Doug Fischer

"Thanks for the RingTV show and your work with RingTV.com. I noticed that you've been completely writing off Juan Manuel Marquez against Manny Pacquiao this coming November. Although I agree that Marquez doesn't perform as nearly as well at a higher weight, we only have his performance against Mayweather (the most gifted boxer out there) to use as a comparison. But nonetheless, Marquez went 12 rounds with Floyd Jr. (and Manny ain't no Mayweather). In my opinion, Marquez is a more technically skilled -- not athletically skilled -- fighter than Pacquiao and if he succeeds in making it a boxing match and in controlling tempo as Erik Morales did, we'll have a new Mexican welterweight champion in a few months. -- John, Santa Paula, CA"

You’re absolutely right, John. I am writing Marquez off in his third bout with Pacquiao and I hate myself for doing it because I have so much respect for him.

However, I can’t get the image of Marquez getting shaken by punches from Juan Diaz and dropped hard on his ass by Michael Katsidis in LIGHTWEIGHT bouts. Now he’s going to face Pacquiao at a weight that his arch rival has proven the ability to hurt naturally bigger fighters -- and not just any fighters -- tough, proud world-class veterans (Cotto, Margarito, and Mosley). He made Cotto and Mosley basically b___h out after dropping them early.

I’m not even factoring in Marquez’s fight with Mayweather, who never tried to take out the Mexican veteran (but probably could have). “Manny an’t no Mayweather?” Um, yeah. Pacquiao lets his hands go. Maybe that will give Marquez an opportunity to clip him with counter punches. We’ll see (PacMan’s aggressive nature was supposedly going to give Mosley a shot, too, remember?). I don’t see Marquez playing it safe against Pacquiao if he gets hurt the way Sugarless Shane did, and thus I see him taking a beating. I hope I’m wrong. I hope we get a good fight.

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Juan Manuel Marquez feels he was robbed against Paquiao

MANILA, Philippines — Juan Manuel Marquez phoned a dear friend in Los Angeles a few days ago, reminisced about their good old days, asked about his trip to Manila this coming week and told him how thrilled he was facing Manny Pacquiao for the third time.

Ricardo Jimenez, the Spanish-speaking publicist of Top Rank, said Marquez was animated during their conversation about the long journey to the Philippines as though he was a kid who was about to go to Disneyland for the very first time.

“He told me he has been waiting for a long time for this (third) fight to happen,” Jimenez said, sensing the bitterness in Marquez’s voice.

Marquez feels he was robbed of a win when judges ruled a split draw the first time he fought Pacquiao in May 2004 and the mental anguish worsened when Pacquiao escaped with a split decision four years later.

While the Nov. 12 rubber match Pacquiao and Marquez 3 has already been signed, sealed and delivered by both camps, Marquez is looking forward to the day that Top Rank big boss Bob Arum makes the formal announcement at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

Manila will be the kickoff leg of a four-city press tour that travels to New York City, Los Angeles and Mexico City and Marquez is actually bringing along a crew from TV Azteca to film some portions of a program for the Mexican TV network.

Jimenez said Marquez is a talent of TV Azteca and as much as 10 people from the station are setting up camp in Manila to do some filming.

Jimenez said he had been with Marquez two weeks ago for a promotional shoot and was not surprised at all the fighter looked in great shape despite the inactivity.

“Marquez always takes good care of his body,” said Jimenez.

“He doesn’t get fat like Erik Morales or Miguel Cotto when they’re not in training.”

As animated their talk was, Jimenez said he felt guilty not to call Marquez back.

“As I was looking at Marquez’s personal data, I saw something and immediately got him back on the line.”

“Hey, happy birthday,” said Jimenez.

Marquez turned 38 last Aug. 23

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