By James Blears

Dethroned WBC Super Featherweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez is vowing that if he again gets the chance to fight Filipino Manny Pacquiao, he’ll be hell bent on knocking him out.

Last month, Pacquiao won the title in a thrilling, absorbing, tide-turning give and take contest, which ended in a controversial split decision, leaving many experts still divided by the skin of their teeth.

Before heading off to Manila to press his case for a re-match down the line, Juan Manuel stopped off at the Romanza Gym for a chat.

He insisted that statistics prove he threw more power punches, combinations and a greater number of overall blows, and is still hotly disputing the ruling of the three judges. He also vowed: “If we climb back into the ring for a third time, I won’t leave it to the judges. Either I’ll knock him out, or he’ll have to knock me out.

“In this fight, Manny had technically changed. He was more aggressive, but at the same time more fragile, and not as strong or as fast as in our first fight. I thought he was going to use his right hand more in this fight, but he didn’t.

“In the second round I had him hurt, but the bell intervened. When I was knocked down in the third, I was winding up to throw a hook to his liver, and at the moment I twisted my shoulder, he caught me on the jaw. It was like the collision of two vehicles, which increased the impact.

“The fans know who really won and that Manny is not the so called destroyer or killer of Mexican fighters. From the look of surprise on his face when NEW champion was announced, he was very surprised. It was like him hitting the jackpot for a hundred million dollars. But he himself knew he lost, and I told him this in the ring afterwards.

Even though Marquez was the champion prior to this bout, he got the short end of the stick in the negotiations leading up to it, conceding his primary aim was to again swop ring leather with Pacquiao. He confirmed that his pay for it is one million dollars. While Manny Pacquiao is reputed to have been paid a lion’s share more than double of this. 

Marquez stressed that he also willingly agreed to give Pacquiao and immediate re-match if he beat him, but Pacquiao didn’t agree to even handedly reciprocate if he was victorious.

The two first clashed in 2004 for the WBA and IBF belts, which Marquez then held. Pacquiao sensationally knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, but Marquez amazingly shook off the effects and fought back to achieve a thrilling draw to retain his championships.

This built up great expectations for their latest fight which went on to generate four- hundred-thousand HBO pay-per-view buys, totaling a staggering 20.2 million dollars revenue. It’s a world record for any fight below the welterweight division. Marquez says it’s also a crystal clear indication that fight fans and he, want and deserve an immediate concluding trilogy.

However Manny Pacquiao has decided that he next wants to move up to the 135 lightweight division to fight its WBC Champion David Diaz.

Marquez says if this happens he wants to fight for the vacated WBC super featherweight title, and thereafter also move up in weight to fight Pacquiao once again.

He said: “My preference of opponent is Manny Pacquiao. I want a third fight between us before things go off the boil.”