Pacquiao vs. Marquez on March 15th

By Boxing News - 11/29/2007 - Comments

After flirting with the idea of a bout with World Boxing Council lightweight champion David Diaz, Manny Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) has opted for a rematch with World Boxing Council featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (48-3-1, 35 KOs), which will be taking place on March 15th. Pacquiao, 28, has faced Marquez, 34, before in May 8, 2004, fighting to a draw. Though Pacquiao was able to knock Marquez down three times in the first round, he wasn’t able to sustain his momentum as Marquez came roaring back in the second half of the fight and appeared to have beaten the Filipino star.

Since then, Marquez, and many of the boxing public, have been clamoring for a rematch between the two. However, until now, Pacquiao has been most disinterested, instead fighting opponents like Erik Morales, Fahsan 3K Battery, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis and Marco Antonio Barrera. Pacquiao was shockingly defeated by Morales, and subsequently fought him twice more, beating him both times. The third bout wasn’t needed, and appeared to be done just for the sake of money, as was Pacquiao’s rematch with Barrera, whom he destroyed previously by 11th round TKO in 2003.

The second match was totally unneeded, which has led to many fans thinking that Pacquiao is no longer concerned with fighting the best, thinking more about getting easy paydays. Before Pacquiao announced his bout with Marquez, the public had wanted Pacquiao to move up in weight class and challenge lightweight Juan Diaz, a fight that would be especially interesting to the boxing public due to Diaz’s all action fighting style.

However, considering Pacquiao’s recent past of avoiding serious challenges, it came to no surprise that he decided to fight Marquez, who isn’t the same fighter he was three years ago. For most people, the fight with Marquez is coming three years too late, because he’s aged since then and is now 34. For his part, Marquez was easily beaten by featherweight Chris Johns in March 2006.



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