Weights: Marquez 142, Pacquiao 143

By Boxing News - 11/12/2011 - Comments

Image: Weights: Marquez 142, Pacquiao 143By Chris Williams: At Friday’s weigh-in for today’s mega fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pacquiao came in at a slightly lower weight than he’s been weighing for this fight at 143 pounds. It’s a probably a much better weight for Pacquiao than coming in at 145 lbs, as he’s looked very slow on his feet in his last few fights and he needed to come in lighter for this fight.

Marquez weighed in at slightly less at 142 lbs, but looked very good at this weight compared to the last time he fought over 140 in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. two years ago in 2009. Marquez was sporting six pack abs during Friday’s weigh-in and looked very cut up for this fight. In contrast, Marquez’s midsection looked slightly flabby for the Mayweather fight. Boxing fans are kind of curious how the added weight that Marquez has put on will effect him for this fight. Some fans think he’ll be slow and will run out of gas quickly, while others see his extra muscle helping him beat Pacquiao this time around.

I think the added weight will help but it’s still going to be very, very hard for Marquez to win a decision against Pacquiao due to the Filipino fighters bigger star status. When you’re as popular as Pacquiao that’s like having three to four rounds already in the bank with the judges without even lifting a finger. That’s just the way it is. Marquez will have to be nothing short of extraordinary to get a decision in this fight and it might take a knockout for him to get the win I hate to say.

It’ll be interesting to see how heavy Marquez gets by the time he steps foot in the ring tonight, because he clearly won’t be weighing 142 when he enters the ring. In his recent training on the Pacquiao/Marquez 24/7 episodes on HBO, Marquez appears to be close to 154 lbs. I expect him to be over the welterweight limit tonight against Pacquiao and I see him as the bigger, stronger, more muscular fighter in this bout. Marquez has done a great job of packing on muscle with his new strength trainer and looks to be a completely different fighter from what he was in the recent past. It could be difficult for Pacquiao, as Marquez has been knocking down his sparring partners with his new punching power and size. It’s like he’s a completely different fighter with the muscles he’s put on. I expect Pacquiao to really struggle against Marquez’s power, because he’s going to be putting hands on Pacquiao often in this fight, and Pacquiao isn’t used to getting hit due to all the in house mismatches that his Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has been setting him up with in the past three years.



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