By Babatis Banda: For the 4th time, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will square it up again. It is obvious to me that Marquez will lose yet again. It is not only because Pacquiao is the cash cow, but because he is the more confident, the aggressor and the initiator.

Marquez is a great counter puncher, but he is unlike Floyd Mayweather, he waits to counter without taking initiative to exploit mistakes that Manny likely makes in his fights. Floyd mixes great counter punching and aggression complimented by pin point punching.

If you watched the last fight with an open mind, Marquez looked so aware of Manny’s straight left such that it limited what he could do. He was so cagey of that left hand. On the other hand, Pacquiao looked the more comfortable, he was aggressive as usual, he got countered here and there and Marquez landed some good hard punches, but he never went a step further to show he was dominant. In my view, Marquez boxed well, but lost because he was not assertive enough.

Marquez needs to have excellent foot work, move side to side and avoid pulling back when Manny is in the offensive mode. If Marquez won’t show any aggressiveness and only waits to counter, he will lose again and this time it may not be any controversial. What Marquez needs to do is attack Pacquiao in those moments when he is catching his breath, Pacquiao has of late had moments he has clearly shown tiredness, he has moments he is clearly out of breath and this is a normal human being.

If however Marquez mistakes aggression for a ‘Gatti-style’ exchanges, he will be taken down because Pacquiao has better speed and power than he has. If Marquez comes in big as in size, it will limit his movement and it will slow him down. If this happens, Manny’s speed and combination punching will kill him. I honestly don’t see how Marquez will change his approach to these fights because he feels this style has worked for him to get the close calls between the two.

I see Marquez losing yet again.