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By Eddie G. Alinea, Contributor
THE fight between World Boxing Council super
featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez and challenger Manny
Pacquiao dubbed “Unfinished Business” on Saturday (Sunday in
Manila) will be more important to the Mexican reigning titleholder
than the Filipino contender.
Pacquiao, “PacMan” to the boxing world, is
five years younger than Marquez at 29 and, according to experts, is
capable of bouncing back to reclaim his place in boxing’s best
pound-for-pound list even if he loses in the 12-round repeat of the
two fighters’ classic match up four years ago.
It is something that cannot be said of Marquez,
who at 34 and being the champion, still has to earn the respect of
both his fellow fighters in the 130-pound division and, especially,
the fans.
Not a few boxing analysts believe that the belt
Marquez is putting on the block is not that important; neither is
the future monetary consideration. As one pundit said, what this
coming fight is all about to the champ is pride—Mexican pride,
which others before him like Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera,
failed to defend against the dominant presence of Pacquiao in the
past five years.
The wrong advice that cost Marquez what could
have been a mega-dollar fight against Prince Naseem Hamed nearly a
decade ago, his handlers’ refusal to let him tangle with Pacquiao
in a rematch following their unsettled match four years ago, and a
loss to Chris John, have been the ghosts that had hounded his
career, that prevented him from reaching the top spot he should have
been occupying a long time ago.
This fight, in other words, is the one last
chance for Marquez to establish himself as what he believes he is,
and who he really is.
Marquez’ living under the dark shadows of
Morales, Barrera and even Pacquiao must end. He actually had started
coming out of those shadows when he beat Barrera, but still, he
failed to get the respect he wanted from that victory because boxing
experts believed the man he defeated was far from the capable
fighter he used to be.
Not even Marquez’ next victory over Rocky
Juarez in Tucson could extricate him from the shadow of Pacquiao,
who, despite not owning a belt, remains more popular than he is.
While Morales, Barrera and Pacquiao dominated
the headlines, Marquez remained a faceless campaigner who continued
to fail to be given a fight that would propel him to the pedestal
the trio has been at.
Signing up with the Golden Boy Promotions might
have changed that though. For if there is anybody who believes in
Marquez, it is its owner himself, Oscar De La Hoya.
“Based on their status now, he being the
champion and Pacquiao the challenger, Marquez is the best fighter in
the world at 130 pounds,” De La Hoya was quoted to have said
months ago. “At super featherweight, Marquez is No. 1 and Pacquiao
is No. 2. If Pacquiao wants to be called world champion at 130
pounds, he has to beat Marquez.”
Marquez, who owns an enviable 48-3-1, 35 KO
record, echoed De La Hoya’s observation many times, boasting
“(Pacquiao) hasn’t beaten me and he won’t beat me. Everything
will be the same as the first fight, except the first round. He’s
planning for future fights but he has to beat me first.”
Pacquiao, however, is out to protect his
reputation as the “Mexican Assassin”—a record he acquired by
beating 10 of the last 11 Mexican fighters he faced in the squared
jungle, including Morales and Barrera. Whatever the outcome of the
Saturday encounter, though, he will remain as the most popular
figure in the Philippine sports setting.
A win will earn for Marquez that distinction,
not only from his countrymen, but also from the international boxing
circle. A setback, however, would carry him deeper into oblivion and
he will be remembered as someone who has failed in preserving the
100-year legacy left by Mexican fighters who came before him.
Marquez knows that. He also knows that Pacquiao
is much younger, a more powerful puncher and a fighter who must have
improved from being a left-handed happy-go-lucky kid the time they
fought four years ago, to a two-fisted attacker his trainer and
handlers want the whole world to know.
Trainer Freddie Roach warned: “Marquez is
going to have to deal with a much better fighter than he faced the
first time and I don’t think Marquez has looked as good since that
fight. We know it’s gonna be tough, but I tell you, Manny has
become more of a boxer.”
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