Pacquiao Interested In 3rd Fight With Marquez

By Manuel Perez: According to Setanta Sports, Manny Pacquiao is apparently interested in a third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. If this is true, it seems rather incredible given that Pacquiao has been steering well clear of Marquez since battling to a gift 12-round decision over Marquez in March 2008. The victory was a hallow one, however, as Marquez appeared to win the fight seven rounds to five, easily doing enough to beat the limited Pacquiao.

Pacquiao said to Setanta, “I did not see the fight but I heard that Marquez won the fight and if he wants to fight somebody, anybody, I wish that we will meet again.” Oh, I’m sure Pacquiao, especially the part where Marquez called out Floyd Mayweather Jr. after the fight, saying that he wants to go after him because Pacquiao isn’t interested in fighting me.

Because this fight was shown on HBO in front of a huge nationwide audience in the U.S, including Canada, it made it look as if Pacquiao has been avoiding Marquez. And that may as well be true, because Marquez has been pursuing Pacquiao for a rematch now for close to a year, and yet has had no interest in return from Pacquiao, who’s more interested in fighting Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton rather than giving him a rematch.

If Pacquiao is serious about his boxing career, he needs to above anything else give Marquez another fight, because Pacquiao fought poorly against him in the 2nd and the 1st fight in 2004, which ended in a draw. In the 2nd fight in March 2008, Marquez dominated the first half of the fight with his counter punching and superb boxing skills.

However, in the 7th round Pacquiao came charging after him like a small Billy Goat and rammed heads with Marquez, opening up a cut over Marquez’s right eye and giving him a bloody nose. The cut subsequently threw Marquez off his game in both the 7th and 8th, allowing Pacquiao to get back into the fight briefly.

It was a bad way to get back into the fight, to be sure, but when you’re behind in a fight and struggling, I suppose I can’t blame Pacquiao for doing the only thing he could to try and get to square one.

However, after the 8th, Marquez retook control over the fight and dominated the action with his cleaner, more accurate shots. Marquez had to do it at a tremendous disadvantage, fighting with only his left eye open because blood was pouring from his deep cut into his right eye making it impossible to see out of it. Still, with one eye open, Marquez dominated Pacquiao for the remainder of the fight.

The win should have easily been given to Marquez, who showed once again his mastery over Pacquiao, but unfortunately the judges’ awarded Pacquiao, the more popular fighter, with the decision rather than the fighter who actually proved to be the better fighter on that night, Marquez.

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