Manny Pacquiao: Bout with Marquez Receiving Worst Kind of Hype for Pacquiao

The upcoming bout featuring Manny Pacquiao was supposed to be all about Pac-Man. Instead, it has become all about steroids, Juan Manuel Marquez and a promise made by Floyd Mayweather Jr. 

This fight already had enough of that hype stuff boxing promoters love to flog. This is the third in what has been a marvelous trilogy. Both fighters were of equal talent in the two preceding fights. The third was going to answer exactly what we have been dying to know. Has Pacquiao lapped Marquez in form?

Now we have two other subplots that are tearing this bout to shreds. The foremost has been doping allegations that have hit Marquez. It seems many would like to believe Marquez is guilty by association. 

As The New York Daily News reports, Marquez's trainer Angel Hernandez has now been identified as Angel (Memo) Heredia. Heredia is the trainer who gave banned substances to Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. 

Now a sport that hardly needs any more dirty laundry has Marquez's trainer forced to dump his on the mat ahead of Marquez's biggest fight of his career. 

That's not all. The spotlight was averted this week when Floyd Mayweather Jr. began flapping his gums once again. This time, he commanded the attention of even borderline boxing fans. 

Mayweather is promising the world to have the biggest fight ever on May 5th, alluding to a matchup with Manny Pacquiao. For the next week, Pacquiao's focus will be taken off Marquez every single time he is asked about the bout with Mayweather, something that is still very much mythical. 

If Pac-Man was ever going to be upset, this would be the time. He has so much useless hype floating around that his mind is guaranteed to be at least a little bit diverted. 

Boxing hardly needed this much garbage to hit what was already a great bout. The Mayweather promise is nothing more than empty until contracts are signed, and the Marquez doping is just as meaningless, as Marquez has given no reason to prove otherwise. 

This fight is about Pacquiao defining the last bit of his legacy, but you wouldn't know it to read all the headlines.