By Dallan o’ Donnell: Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao may have announced his fight with Juan Manual Marquez first but it looks like his thunder has been stolen by the return of Floyd Mayweather making September a bumper fight month featuring the two titans. Pacquiao will now want to put on a vintage display in a third fight with Marquez after his less than impressive and uncharacteristic showing against Shane Mosley in May.
He may have won the fight clearly but more often than we have ever seen before Mosley made Pacquaio look crude coming forward. He missed a lot because Shane showed a few silky skills and looked sharp at times on the defensive. Manny seemed to have no answers but did enough and got the job done. Marquez is different however. Mosley was an unknown obstacle to Pacquiao they had never before fought one another.
Pacquiao and Marquez know each other inside and out. In previous fights Marquez battled back from three first round knockdowns to battle to a draw. In the rematch Pacquiao narrowly claimed a split decision win however it proved to be controversial with many fans myself included thinking Marquez won the fight but he now has a chance for redemption. However unfortunately it is not much of a chance. The fight will be fought at 147 pounds -the welter weight limit with the possibility of a 144 pound catch weight not much of a difference.
Marquez is a 135 fighter and has only fought at 147 once before against Mayweather eventually losing that contest. I hope I’m wrong and it will be competitive but Pacquiao will look to put an exclamation point on the latest trilogy. If we consider the pints that Pacquiao had a poor performance against Mosley, disappointed fans and Mayweather`s return it makes for a Manny Pacquaio on a mission. He will be red hot in this fight. When he wins, await another saga with Mayweather over negotiations then a breakdown in negotiations a resumption to negotiations and finally a fight next summer. The question I dare to ask is: will it be worth the wait?
Comments are closed.