By Jake Donovan

Like it or not, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez are ready to do battle once again.

The longtime in-ring rivals are set to square off December 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. As was the case with chapters two and three, the bout will air live on HBO PPV. The bout was officially announced during a Monday afternoon press conference in downtown Los Angeles as the first stop of a three-city fight tour.

Fret not, however. There are some fresh storylines for an otherwise exhausted topic.

This will be the first (and possibly only) entry of the series in which no title – lineal or alphabet - will be at stake. Pacquiao’s controversial loss to Tim Bradley in June ended a 2 ½ year stay as a welterweight titlist, while Marquez moving up in weight means his 140 lb. belt is not on the line.

Unlike last November’s encounter, there will not be a catchweight for this fight. Both fighters agreed to fight at a maximum weight of 147 lb., the welterweight limit where Pacquiao has campaigned since his title winning efforts over Miguel Cotto in Nov. ’09.

Marquez has fought just twice above the 140 lb. limit over the course of his 19-year career. Both fights came against the very best available opponents of his generation, weighing 142 lb. in separate fights with Pacquiao (Nov. ’11) and Floyd Mayweather (Sept. ’09). Marquez lost a lopsided decision to Mayweather, while his third fight with Pacquiao ended in a highly controversial majoirty decision loss.

Neither fighter seemed satisfied with the outcome of the third fight, which from an action standpoint was the weakest entry of the three-fight series.

Their first fight in May ’04 saw Marquez recover from a disastrous three-knockdown opening round to battle all the way back to a split decision draw in their lineal featherweight championship. Four years later, Pacquiao rode a fourth-round knockdown to a split decision win in a fight that netted the Filipino superstar the lineal super featherweight championship in a non-stop thriller.

Comparatively speaking, the third fight lacked sustained drama for much of the night, though met a familiar storyline once it came time to read the scores. Pacquiao was announced as the winner, but was lustily booed by the sold-out crowd on hand at the MGM Grand, quite a statement considering he was the crowd favorite all throughout fight week and all the way to and through the opening bell.

Though little to no demand came for absolute closure in the series, the fighters believe there is still unfinished business.

“I want to (erase) the doubt in the minds of the fans,” noted Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38KO) during Monday’s press conference. “I want to show the old Manny Pacquiao when I was 24 or 25 years old, the hungry Manny Pacquiao fighting in the ring.”

There is a case to be made that Marquez (54-6-1, 36KO) deserves to be 3-0 in the series, but has yet to secure an official win against Pacquiao (0-2-1 head-to-head). Though the 147 lb. limit works in favor of his opponent, Marquez has the utmost confidence that December 8 will finally be his night.

“I want to prove who is better and I want the referee to raise my hand,” Marquez insisted. “I didn’t like the judges’ decision because everyone knows what happened in the last three fights.”

The press tour will continue on Wednesday in New York City and conclude on Friday in Marquez’ hometown of Mexico City.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox