Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Pac-Man Will Dominate and End Fight with KO

Manny Pacquiao isn’t losing to a guy who is 38 years old and on the very tail-end of his career. Juan Manuel Marquez doesn’t stand a chance in Part 3 of the greatest trilogy of boxing in the last 25 years.

Sure the fight back in 2004 was as even a boxing match as one could ever be (despite Pac-man’s three knockdowns in the first round), but the 2008 re-match wasn’t as close, and it’s going to be even more of a mismatch this time around.

Did anybody witness Marquez against Floyd Mayweather? It wasn’t a contest. He looked incredibly slow and seemed to struggle moving up to the welterweight division.

Pacquiao is only getting faster and stronger at the age of 32. He has fully blossomed into a deadly welterweight that has lighting-fast hands and the sort of footwork every boxer in the world should mimic. He now has a right hook, a weapon he didn’t have in the first two matches.

He isn’t the same fighter of the past.

He has made three legit boxers—Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley—look like they don’t even belong in the same ring.

With the intense training regimen of late, Pac-Man has increased his power, speed and defense from the last few years. The 2011 Pacquiao would destroy the 2008 version.

You certainly can’t say that about Marquez, and that’s why this fight isn’t lasting 12 rounds.

Pac-Man has been working harder, beating better opponents, and has more endurance, speed and strength at this point. He is more prepared than ever to handle the counter-punch style that has made Marquez so successful.

More than anything else, the fact that Pacquiao is an 8-to-1 favorite is all you need to know. After being only a 2-to-1 favorite in Round 2, it’s clear in which direction both of these fighters are heading, and Vegas knows it.

In what has been an epic series of fights, expect Round 3 to end before the final bell rings.

Prediction: Pacquiao wins via KO in Round 7