De La Hoya: "After Marquez Wins, We Target Pacquiao"
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Las Vegas - Oscar De La Hoya predicts that Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez will beat undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr in their Number One/Numero Uno clash at the MGM Grand In Las Vegas on Saturday.
In an interview with BoxingScene.com and ABS-CBN “The Golden Boy” based his prediction on Marquez’ two classic battles with Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao where Marquez was dropped three times in the first round but counter-punched his way to salvage a draw in their first clash and lost a controversial split decision in the rematch.
De La Hoya pointed out that while Mayweather’s assets are his speed and power, he believes Pacquiao “is faster than Mayweather and hits harder than him” and that Marquez who handled Pacquiao’s speed and power shouldn’t have a problem with Mayweather.
De La Hoya said he told Marquez, “Mayweather is not going to hurt you, he does not hit hard.” De La Hoya recalled that when Mayweather hit him in their fight “I thought it was as fly when he was throwing punches. So that’s an advantage for Marquez.”
De La Hoya who was demolished by Pacquiao last December noted that Pacquiao “is faster than Mayweather because he throws punches in bunches and from all over, all the different angles, so he’s faster. Marquez has been in there with Pacquiao twice and you know they were close fights. So why should Marquez not handle Mayweather’s speed, why should he not handle the power? He’s going to handle it. Its as no-brainer.”
The promoter who handles Marquez believes that “all the cards are stacked against Mayweather.” De La Hoya cited “the long layoff, rib injury, distractions.” But he added “ you have to keep in mind that’s what makes Mayweather grow, train longer, train harder. You’ll never know.”
However, De La Hoya said he was one hundred percent sure that Marquez would win in the main event which will be telecast “live” over the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN on its pre-eminent Channel 2.
Reacting to the confidence of De La Hoya, Marquez said “the confidence is in me too because my promoter is for me, this confidence is for me too.”
Marquez invited Filipino fight fans to watch what he described as “this great fight“ adding “I‘m looking for the victory and then I’ll be looking for (Manny) Pacquiao.”
