Marquez looks ahead to Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 07/13/2011 - Comments

By John F. McKenna (McJack): Boxing legend and three time world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) is ready for his Saturday night showdown with former World Boxing Association (WBA) world champion Likar Ramos (24-3, 18 KO’s).

The fight against Ramos will be a tune up for Marquez who will be taking on pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) for their trilogy fight on November 12.

Marquez wound up training at the Romanza Gym for Ramos and was quoted in PhilBoxing.Com as saying “I am ready for this fight.”

Although Marquez currently is focused on the Ramos fight, he can’t help but look ahead to November and his matchup with Manny Pacquiao. The trilogy fight between Marquez and Pacquiao should settle once and for all who the superior fighter is.

Marquez and Pacquiao have already engaged in two very controversial fights in 2004 and 2008. In their first fight Marquez was able to salvage a draw. The second battle between the two ended with Pacquiao winning a close split decision. Juan has been clamoring for another fight since their last bout. Both Marquez and Hall of Fame trainer “Nacho” Beristain claim that Juan won the first two fights and was robbed of the decisions in those fights.

WBC lightweight champion Marquez reiterated “I have dreamed of this fight (against Pacquiao) for many years.

Pacquiao’s conditioning coach Alex Ariza feels that the fight will not go past five rounds and that Manny will effectively shut Marquez’ mouth.

Many boxing writers think that Pacquiao will have advantages in November that he did not have in his two previous fights with Marquez. Those fights were at 126 pounds and 130 pounds. Manny has put on muscle and weight since he last faced Marquez. He has also become a better all around fighter.

Pacquiao also has two other major advantages over Marquez. Manny has retained his speed and explosive power at the higher weight. For the November showdown with Pacquiao, Marquez must come up to a catch weight of 144 pounds. Juan does not carry the extra weight as well as Manny.

In addition, Marquez will be 38 years old by the time his fight with Pacquiao takes place.

No matter what a fighter says about how well he feels as he gets older, there is no getting around it that fighters in the lower weight classes seem to lose their effectiveness at a younger age than the bigger guys. Shane Mosley is a classic example of that. In his May 7 fight with Pacquiao, Mosley looked ripped. For all practical purposes though Mosley looked every bit his age in the fight. No one has yet figured out how to turn back the clock on Father Time.



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