Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) has won two of the three meetings. Marquez is hoping the outcome will be different this time. The first fight, in 2004, ended in a draw after Marquez fought back from three first-round knockdowns.
By Tim Smith/ NY Daily News
LAS VEGAS — Jake LaMotta always jokes that he fought Sugar Ray Robinson
so many times that the steady diet of “Sugar" gave him diabetes. The two
men fought six times and LaMotta won just once.
The two men will meet for the fourth time in eight years when they clash in a 12-round welterweight match Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on HBO.
There are no hidden secrets or surprise strategies that either man can spring on the other. Familiarity has sparked contempt on the part of Marquez, who said he doesn’t think that he can be friends with Pacquiao once they retire.
“If that’s how he feels... ” said Pacquiao, who harbors no ill feelings toward Marquez.
That might be because Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) has won two of the three meetings. Marquez is hoping the outcome will be different this time. The first fight, in 2004, ended in a draw after Marquez fought back from three first-round knockdowns.
Then Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs) went on to lose a narrow split decision in 2008 and drop a majority decision last year.
“I know a lot of people think I won the other fights and I think I won those fights, but I want my hand raised in the ring,” Marquez said when asked what his motivation was for a fourth fight, other than money.
Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has been beating the drums for this fourth matchup, hoping that it can generate good PPV buys on a fight series that has been entertaining, but unsatisfying for Marquez and his loyal fans.
“There are people who say, ‘Who needs a fourth fight?’” Arum said. “I know that Marquez believes that he won the last two fights and he doesn’t want to leave it in the hands of the judges this time. Is it going to be as great as Hagler-Hearns? Maybe. But I think you’re going to see a different fight, a good fight, as good as the three that have gone before it.”
Arum is running out of viable opponents for the 33-year-old Pacquiao. There is little chance that we’ll ever see Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao didn’t want to fight Timothy Bradley in a rematch. Bradley defeated Pacquiao in a very controversial split decision for the WBO welterweight title in June. He didn’t think that he could make as much money fighting Bradley again as he would fighting Marquez for a fourth time. After Marquez, the pickings are slim for a potential PPV foil for Pacquiao.
Marquez, 39, had even fewer options. After his last fight against Pacquiao, Marquez said he was angry and had vowed that he was never going to fight Pacquiao again. But after talking with his manager and his family, Marquez reconsidered and asked his promoter, Fernando Beltran, to contact Arum about making the fourth fight.
Marquez has assembled the same team he had before the last match to help him prepare for Pacquiao again, including Angel (Heredia) Hernandez, the controversial strength and conditioning trainer who was involved in the steroids scandal that sent track star Marion Jones to prison. Heredia supplied various track athletes with steroids and then ratted them out to federal prosecutors.
Hernandez and Marquez said they are doing everything above board in preparation to meet Pacquiao. Marquez has put on extra muscle in moving up from 140 to 147 pounds.
“Some of the guys who are into the sciences know what hard work and dedication in training will get you," Hernandez said.
Since the last time they met, Pacquiao has had his own bitter disappointment with the judges following a fight that he thought he won. He said he was not angry, and merely accepted the decision of the judges without complaint. However that experience has made him determined to keep it out of the judges’ hands this time around. Pacquiao wants a knockout this time.
“That would be the best (thing) if he gives me that chance and that opportunity," Pacquiao said.
Marquez does not see his series of fights with Pacquiao as a rich legacy in the history of boxing. But Pacquiao has a different view.
“It’s like Bob Arum was saying, when you think about Muhammad Ali, you think about (Joe) Frazier and when you think about Frazier you think about Muhammad Ali," Pacquiao said. “Now when you say Manny Pacquiao you think of Marquez and when you say Juan Manuel Marquez you think of Manny Pacquiao.”
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