ROACH: PACQUIAO A LOT BETTER THIS TIME
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 06 Dec 2012
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach sees Manny Pacquiao as a better fighter during the fourth encounter with Juan Manuel Marquez on December 1, 2012. "Marquez is a very good fighter, but Manny is a lot better for this fight than he was for the third fight,? Dick Reeno of Boxing Scene quoted Roach as saying. ?I don't think he really saw the best Manny yet. In the third fight I thought he would be the Manny who is using both hands.?
Roach explained that Pacquiao ?had a few distractions before the fight and his mind wasn't there.? This time he believes that his prized boxer will be a different fighter than what we saw in the previous fights. ?I think he's going to see the best Manny and the best Manny will be way too much for him,? referring to Marquez who is going to face a much improved Pacquiao.
Roach confirmed that they have four knockdowns during the training camp and he said that the last knockdown they had in sparring was during the Miguel Cotto fight. He is positive Marquez would still use counter-punching as his main weapon. But the four-time Trainer of the Year awardee cautioned his favorite boxer that the Mexican will go all out to stop him also.
Aside from the vaunted counterpunch, another Marquez fatal weapon would be his footwork which he mastered enough to work against the southpaw opponent. Positioning of the feet influences the range of the boxers especially if an orthodox boxer fights a southpaw.
Roach anticipates that Marquez will still run when he feels the power of the Pacman?s punches. He expects ?Dinamita? to fight toe-to-toe but will revert to his old fighting form when he endures the pain of the opposite blows. He thinks that a bigger fighter would also mean a slower fighter.
?Our previous fights against each other brought out the best in us,? Pacquiao told to Top Rank. ?Of all the opponents I have fought, Juan Manuel Marquez is the only one who was able to anticipate many of my moves and effectively counter a lot of them. I underestimated him in our last fight but I will not make that mistake this time.?
"I am very excited to be fighting Manny again,? answered Marquez. ?I beat him the first three fights but did not get the decision; this time I will beat him again and I also will get the victory officially. It?s an election year and I am going to win by a landslide."
Pacquiao acknowledged that Marquez is the best fighter produced by Mexico next to Julio Cesar Chavez. This fourth fight means so much to the fighting congressman of Sarangani. A clear victory would mean concluding a wonderful chapter of this storied rivalry and writing another chapter in his beautiful ring history.
Marquez will fight Pacquiao at a full 147-pound weight limit for the first time. Last year, they met at a catchweight of 144 lbs. Oddsmakers choose Pacquiao as 4-1 favorite to win over Marquez. Pacquiao has a record of 54-4-2 with 38 KOs while Marquez has a slate of 54-6-1 with 39 KOs.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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