By Keith Idec
Juan Manuel Marquez couldn’t care less if Manny Pacquiao is bothered by Marquez claiming he won their first two fights.
Freddie Roach reiterated on a conference call Wednesday that Pacquiao is extremely motivated by Marquez’s remarks regarding those closely contested 12-round bouts, which resulted in a draw and a split-decision win for Pacquiao.
“Well, if he’s upset about me saying that I won the two fights, I’m upset that I haven’t gotten the decisions,” Marquez said on a conference call Wednesday. “I think I’m motivated just as much as he is. We both have our opinions. That’s his opinion. My opinion is that I didn’t get the decisions I deserved.”
The 38-year-old Marquez managed to survive three knockdowns in the first round of his initial encounter with Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs), which resulted in a 12-round draw 7½ years ago in Las Vegas. Marquez got dropped once more in the third round of their March 2008 rematch, yet rose to his feet and again nearly defeated Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s 12-round split-decision win was disputed repeatedly by Mexico’s Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs), who has even worn T-shirts stating that he was “robbed” of victories in those two bouts. Their third meeting, an HBO Pay-Per-View main event scheduled for Nov. 12 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will be contested for Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title.
“There’s no doubt it’s personal for me, too,” Marquez said. “I’m upset, too. I didn’t get the decisions. I do want to win this fight because I believe I won the first two fights. So yeah, I think this fight is going to be great because we both want it so bad. We’re both going to give it our all. [The fans] are going to be the winners in this fight because they know we’re going in there to give our all to win the fight.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for the Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.