Manny Pacquiao May Try to Prolong Fight with Marquez to Entertain Fans

If the fight between Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez goes beyond three rounds without either one hitting the canvas, boxing fans could look forward to an entertaining fight on Saturday night.

The crucial part of the fight is the first three rounds as either one of them could try to go for an early knockdown

If Marquez is spared of a knockdown by Pacquiao as predicted by Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who said Marquez could be down and out in the first round, Pacquiao would know by then if he can try to entertain his millions of fans around the world and still be assured of a win via KO in the later rounds.

It is going to be a risky proposition for Pacquaio as Marquez is known for his survival instinct and may be compared to a cockroach that always manages to spring to life after being badly hit and presumed dead.

It may be recalled that in 2004, Marquez was given up for "dead" after being knocked down three times in the first round by Pacquiao and yet he managed to spring back to life and even got lucky enough to steal a draw verdict from the judges.

Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach will certainly oppose the "entertainment plan" of Pacquiao as he wants to annihilate Marquez for being disrespectful to Pacquiao after having embarrassed the Filipino boxing star during his visit to the Philippines with his "I beat him twice" spiel.

Roach has predicted Marquez will be gone and out inside six rounds.

But Marquez's trainer Nacho Beristain said Marquez will prevail in this fight and contrary to claims that Marquez has bulked beyond his being a natural lightweight in a matter of weeks, he stressed that the issue isn't related to weight. 

Beristain is referring to the space that separates them—the space that he calls the combat zone.

“Here is Pacquiao, who is a southpaw, and here is Marquez who is an orthodox,” said Beristain, quoted by Gabriel Montoya in maxboxing.com.

“If Juan Manuel dominates that combat zone, he will take Pacquiao to round 12 again. If Juan Manuel gets careless in technique, Pacquiao can knock him out because of his punching power, which is superior. But if we manage to make Juan Manuel understand that if he dominates that little space, he will beat him then he’ll beat him again.”

Still, the combat zone Beristain is referring to seems to be an open field where both Marquez and Pacquiao will have an equal chance to dominate.

While Pacquiao is highly favored to win the fight on Saturday, there is always a possibility of an upset—and when that happens, it will be a devastating defeat for his favorite fighter, Roach admitted.