MARQUEZ PREDICTS A GREAT FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 04 Dec 2008
Ring Magazine lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez predicts that the showdown between Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya will be a great fight.
In an overseas telephone conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Marquez who fought Pacquiao in two classic battles drawing the first and losing a split decision in the second where he also lost nhis WBC super featherweight title showed no ill-feelings or envy over ?The Dream Match? unlike Marco Antonio Barrera who branded the fight a ?circus? designed to make big money for the two boxers.
Barrera was pulverized in his first fight with Pacquiao and mauled in the second and was also beaten by Marquez.
With Golden Boy Promotions vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez acting as interpreter Marquez said ?this should be a very good fight. It's going to be very interesting for the fans. They are going to be on the edge of their seats. Both (Oscar and Manny) are very good fighters.?
Marquez said that the presence of famed trainer Ignacio ?Nacho? Beristain in De La Hoya?s corner ?is going to be a plus and that?s going to help him (Oscar)? even as he noted that Beristain worked his corner for the two epic battles with Pacquiao which should be a help.
Marquez noted that ?the right straight and uppercut are very effective? and were key weapons in his fights with Pacquiao and while De La Hoya has said he picked something up from those two fights Marquez said ?Oscar knows what to do and he?ll throw his own combinations. He?s got to fight his own fight.?
Gomez disclosed that De La Hoya was ?looking very good? emphasizing that ?he is motivated and is not taking anything for granted. He is not taking Manny lightly.?
Gomez said contrary to speculations, De La Hoya had no problems with making the stipulated weight of 147 pounds indicating that he?s been on weight ?for the last month at around 147.? Gomez, a boyhood friend of De La Hoya from East Los Angeles where they both grew up said De La Hoya ?will probably go up to 152-153 at the most on fight night because he usually doesn?t go up too much.?
Gomez predicted ?an explosive fight?a memorable fight. Its going to be a fight that?s going to be remembered because of styles. These guys are both aggressive. I think this is a fight that?s going to be talked about and remembered like the Ali-Frazier ?Thrilla in Manila ?.?
Faced with the claims of a mismatch by Barrera and even WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman as well as trainers Floyd Mayweather Sr, Roger Mayweather and Buddy McGirt among others because of the size difference for one, Gomez responded that ?size itself doesn?t matter. Its skills.?
Gomez pointed out that Bernard Hopkins went up 15 pounds to fight light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver who was at his peak after knocking out Roy Jones Jr. Nobody gave Hopkins a chance. They said he was too old and had fought as a middleweight for so long and now he is moving up 15 pounds. But what happened? Bernard beat Tarver? by a lopsided 118-109 decision on the scorecards of all three judges indicating Pacquiao-De La Hoya reflects the same thing.
Hopkins for his part told www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that De La Hoya had ?to fight the same type of fight ? not same style? that he (Hopkins) showed when he ripped young Kelly Pavlik in what was considered a classic execution by the fighter known as ?The Executioner.?
Hopkins said ?that?s how serious Oscar has to take this fight? to prove that his legacy is worthy of his accomplishments over the years.?
No matter the odds favoring De La Hoya, Hopkins believes Pacquiao has a chance because he points out ?a fighter can get cut, may get his hands hurt. Anything can happen.? Reacting to Pacquiao?s moving up 12 pounds Hopkins said ?I was also small when I fought Tarver.? He also mentioned that De La Hoya moved up from 147 to fight him because ?nobody wanted to fight me because I probably weighed 170 on the night of the fight. To do that you need b***s. Oscar did that. He?s no bully.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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