Juan Manuel Marquez Says Manny Pacquiao Hit Harder Than Floyd Mayweather

Having fought Floyd Mayweather, Jr once and Manny Pacquiao twice in his boxing career, popular Mexican boxer and WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez is in the best position to say who among the two great boxers hits much harder in the ring.

While training for his rematch with Juan Diaz, Marquez was asked to compare the punching power of both fighters and Marquez said Pacquiao hits harder than Mayweather, Jr.

Marquez fought Manny Pacquiao twice in the past. Their first encounter took place at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada in May 2004.

In the first round, Pacquiao surprised Marquez with a series of devastating punches and  was knocked down three times. However, Márquez showed great heart and managed to recover from the early knockdowns.

At the end of a very close second round, it was clear that Marquez had fully recovered and almost dominated most of the remaining rounds.

At the end of the 12-round duel, judges ruled the fight was a draw.

Many fans who were startled at Márquez surviving the first round saw him take control of the fight thereafter, only to be denied the win on the judges' scorecards. The final scores were 115-110 for Márquez, 115-110 for Pacquiao, and 113-113.

One of the judges (who scored the bout 113-113) later admitted to making an error on the scorecards, because he had scored the first round as "10-7" in favor of Pacquiao instead of the standard "10-6" for a three-knockdown round.

In their second encounter held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in March 2008, Marquez lost to Pacquiao via a highly disputed split decision.

Márquez suffered a knockdown in the third round that proved to be the difference in the decision as the remaining rounds were scored dead even.

Golden Boy's Richard Shaefer later offered Pacquiao $6 million guarantee for a rematch with Marquez, but the Filipino boxer turned down the offer saying he was moving up to welterweight division.

Since 2008, Marquez has been chasing Pacquiao for another shot at the Filipino boxer and Ring's pound-for-pound king. But Pacquiao has since moved up to welterweight division while Marquez, who earlier claimed he lost a lot of speed in his welterweight fight.

"I came back to lightweight because at welterweight I lost a lot of speed ". Marquez said while he was preparing for a rematch with Juan Diaz.

The Marquez-Diaz rematch is scheduled to take place on July 31, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay.

Marquez's titles will be at stake. Prior to the bout, the WBO ordered the Marquez- Diaz winner to fight mandatory challenger Michael Katsidis.