The Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rivalry has given boxing fans alike many great moments in their 3 fights. Whether it was the epic Marquez come back in the first fight after tasting the canvas three times in the first round, the many hard lefts landed by Pacquiao to Marquez’ hard counter rights in the second fight, or the infamous sombrero Marquez wore around his genital area while being interviewed by HBO, feeling that he had yet again been robbed by the judges; the memories are evident in this trilogy. Now the two intend to tango once again on December 8th to settle the score once and for all, most hope.
ThaBoxingvoice.com caught up with HBO’s Larry Merchant to get his take on one of the great rivalries in boxing, whether he is at all excited for round 4 between Pacquiao-Marquez, and whether he will be calling the action, live from ringside. “I don’t know if I’m calling the fight, there’s a possibility, and yes I’m interested. The first three fights were pretty damn good fights. My feeling is, will this be too much of a good thing, or is too much of a good thing, not a good thing. It’s not like the other fights didn’t intrigue us. So yes, I’m looking forward to it,” Merchant told ThaBoxingvoice.com
To many, this is a fight we’ve seen already, too many times, and the outcome will remain the same; Pacquiao will try and attack while Marquez will counterpunch. There will be many close rounds and at the end of the day, the decision will be read and somebody (most likely Marquez) will not be happy about it. Marquez’ record against Pacquiao is 0-2-1, but he feels that he is 3-0 against his Filipino rival.
Marquez has stated on many occasions that he would not fight Pacquiao in Vegas because he can’t get a decision in ‘Sin City’. But here we are once again, Las Vegas for Pacquiao-Marquez 4, something’s got give right? Merchant agrees. “I want to see if Marquez, having been unable to get a decision against Pacquiao is willing to take risks against Pacquiao to make something happen for himself. I want to see whether Pacquiao feels that he’s got to make something dramatic happen for himself to make up for his last two performances with Bradley and Marquez. “
To Merchant, the possibilities of getting the same result as the first 3 is very likely, but he feels something has to change and hopefully something will to put a stamp on the rivalry. “We know these guys. Either we’ll see the same type of action we have seen in the past, or maybe we will see something more explosive and dramatic,” explained Merchant.
Merchant certainly feels the onus is on Marquez. “I don’t know, I think Pacquiao is motivated but it depends on what Marquez we see and on how he wants to fight. We know that Marquez is a top boxer and if he doesn’t want to get into a serious exchange, he can avoid them. We also know, he was knocked down 4 times in the first two fights. I don’t know whether he’s inclined to want to take the risk but that’s why they have the fight. But should Marquez want to change his fortunes and not feel like he will get robbed, I think he needs to be more explosive and take those risks.”
