By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is well aware how his November 12th opponent Juan Manuel Marquez has added a lot of muscle weight to get ready for their fight next week. But Pacquiao doesn’t feel worried about the extra size of the proud Mexican warrior.

Pacquiao said to the sports.inquirer.net, “He bulked up but we’re already used to bigger opponents. Margarito, Mosley, De La Hoya. I’ve already proven myself against bigger guys.”

Pacquiao beat a weight drained Oscar De La Hoya in 2008; a 40-year-old Shane Mosley in May of this year. Mosley was considered totally shot at the time Pacquiao fought him and had already been recently exposed as such by Sergio Mora and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Antonio Margarito hasn’t been the same fighter since his fight with Miguel Cotto in 2008. At the time Pacquiao fought him in November 2010, Margarito has fought only once since coming off a year suspension for having loaded gloves. Technically, Pacquiao fought Margarito, but he didn’t fight the version of Margarito that Cotto fought in 2008. Pacquiao would have been hard pressed to beat that version of Margarito.

My take on Marquez’s extra size is as such: Marquez is not only bigger, but he’s also punching with a lot more power than he did in the past. He’s not weight drained and shot like De La Hoya was; he’s not rusty from inactivity like Margarito was and dealing with a catchweight; Marquez isn’t 40-years-old like Mosley was and coming off of two consecutive poor performances the way that Sugar Shane was when he fought Pacquaio. While it’s true Pacquiao fought some bigger guys, look at who he fought. When you put Pacquiao’s wins under a microscope, you’ll see that his promoter Bob Arum did a great job of finding guys that were shot or near shot at the time Pacquiao fought them.