By Chris Williams: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez is no stranger to Manny Pacquiao, having fought him twice in the past, and many people, this writer included, feel that Marquez should have been given the decision in both of those fights with Pacquiao. Marquez really knows how to beat Pacquiao and seems to have his number.

This is one of the reasons why some people think that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is so reluctant to put Pacquiao back in with the counter punching Marquez. Instead of matching Pacquiao with Marquez, Arum is putting him in with an arguably much less popular fighter in Antonio Margarito on November 13th at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. In an article at Examiner.com, Marquez describes what Margarito has to do to beat the 31-year-old Pacquiao, saying “Margarito must keep his distance, and when he attacks, fire off combinations of three or more punches.”

This is perfect. Pacquiao goes on shut down when his opponents throw combos and him. He just tries to block the shots and often does a really poor job of doing that. Margarito has to stay away from Pacquiao, use his jab and when Pacquiao tries to attack, move away.

Pacquiao takes little steps and Margarito should be able to stay away from him until he’s ready to attack with his combinations. He can’t just stand in front of Pacquiao like Ricky Hatton did throwing leaping hooks. Margarito has to figure that Freddie Roach will have already dissected his previous fights and will have trained Pacquiao well to defeat Margarito’s old style of fighting.

But if Margarito fights like Marquez, Pacquiao will be clueless and helpless to defeat that kind of attack. Combinations are like kryptonite for Pacquiao. He doesn’t throw punches until his opponents have stopped throwing their shots. This is something that has been a constant for Pacquiao in all of his fights.

He stops punching when his opponents open up with combinations. The trick here is not to stay in there and let Pacquiao have his turn at the offensive side of things. You keep Pacquiao on the outside eating jabs until you’re ready to light him up with combinations to the head and body.

If Margarito does that, then I can see Pacquiao getting dominated, busted up and possibly knocked out. Marquez is a genius. He more than anybody knows how to beat Pacquiao.