Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III: Is It Official for November 12?

According to ESPN on Tuesday, Juan Manuel Marquez agreed to a fight contract with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to fight Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

The fight is not official until Arum makes a deal with Pacquiao, but that is a formality at this point.

Juan Manuel Marquez is considered to be the Pac-Man's biggest rival in the squared circle when it comes to bloody-wars.  Marquez has been asking for a rematch for quite a while now and it looks like he will finally get it.

The fight would take place at a catch-weight of 144 pounds. Marquez will get $5 million and a $10 million payday for a fourth fight if he succeeds and upsets the Filipino champ.

This fight should be quite interesting. I hate to say this, but this is another one of those fights where we are going to try to be positive and say, "Well if Marquez comes in shape...if Marquez still has it...if Marquez comes old..." There are going to be a bunch of "ifs" for this fight.

Let's just hope that we are right for once this time and these two great athletes put on a historic battle that will leave the fans wanting more.

The question shouldn't be whether Marquez will come prepared when he steps in the ring with Pacquiao. The real question is will his body be able to handle the power of a terrific fighter in his prime?

The world doesn't know. This makes it a great gamble for those boxing fans with knowledge.

It's hard to figure out the real fighter behind the big name. We don't know what Marquez we may see on Nov. 12. Are we going to see a dragon or a deer behind that legendary name?

Let's hope that Marquez's body can still handle the power of great fighters. He has been fighting good, quality opponents like Katsidis and Juan Diaz. However, he has yet to fight a Miguel Cotto or a Antonio Margarito. We all have seen Manny Pacquiao's power and what he can do at 144 pounds. The Pac-Man had tremendous power at 140 pounds when he fought Ricky Hatton. Marquez will need to work extremely hard to satisfy his fans and shock the boxing world.

This fight should be great for boxing. Whenever you put a great Mexican warrior against Pacquiao, we know that it will be a great fight. Even if Pacquiao ends up pulling off the victory, it won't be a boring victory like Mosley-Pacquiao, one of the most over-hyped fights I've witnessed.

Marquez has fought Pacquiao before and feels that he can stop the great conqueror with the Cleto Reyes boxing gloves. Marquez will try to fight Pacquiao toe-to-toe and make it an ugly, bloody battle.

This is the type of fight that will generate great pay-per-view numbers.