Manny Pacquiao: Marquez's Trash Talk Is All the Motivation Pac-Man Needs

Juan Manuel Marquez should be a WWE wrestler, because he is playing enough mind games to build a worked storyline around. Unfortunately, mind games don’t often work in boxing, and they especially don’t work against a mentally unflappable Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez has been telling anyone and everyone that will listen that he won the first two fights, including wearing a t-shirt that says: “Marquez beat Pacquiao twice.”

Pacquiao even addressed the shirt and Marquez’s trash talk at the pre-fight press conference.

"

“I want to prove that he (Marquez) was wrong in wearing that T-shirt saying he won our last two fights. So this is kind of special. It’s the most important fight in my boxing career, because I want it to answer all the doubts that have been raised.

“Right now, outside the ring, there is nothing personal. But when I get into the ring on Nov. 12, it’s going to be personal for us.”

"

The difference between Pacquiao and all of his opponents—or in the case of Floyd Mayweather or other potential future opponents—is that he doesn’t have to talk. He lets his skills in the ring do the talking for him.

That does not make for a lot of interesting back and forth leading up to the fight and it gives analysts a lot less to talk about, but it has worked well for Pacquiao in his career because he is making a lot of money.

Even the most ardent Pacquiao fan has to admire Marquez for his confidence and brazen attitude, but what does he really hope to achieve with it all?

Marquez wearing a t-shirt is not going to change the result of the previous two fights, and it does not make him more dangerous when he walks down to the ring on Saturday night.

Don’t get me wrong: I am all about shameless self-promotion, especially if it adds intrigue and drama to an event, but Marquez clearly does not understand Pacquiao at all.

You don’t get under the skin of someone like Pacquiao by talking. You do it by rocking him with a hard right hand in the first round. Few fighters have been able to do that in recent years, so he will not be expecting it and might not know how to react.

Marquez can do all the talking and wear all the t-shirts that he wants over the next six days, but when he steps into the ring with Pacquiao, none of it will matter. All that matters is what happens when that bell rings, and no one has been able to defeat Pacquiao in six years.