Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Marquez KO Will Scare Mayweather from Fighting Pac-Man

On Saturday night, Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao will fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time.  It is not the fight the boxing world is necessarily yearning for, but it is an important fight for Pacquiao's career and may have a big influence on a possible Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather tilt. 

That, of course, is the fight that even modest boxing fans are clamoring for and have been discussing for what seems like years.

First, though, Pacquiao will be focusing on Marquez, a fighter who he has far from dominated after being declared a winner by split decision and fighting to a draw in two previous bouts. 

Mayweather most likely has a keen eye on all Pacquiao fights with all the media attention the two receive with their illustrious resumes being forced into discussion non-stop.  Mayweather will probably pay a little more attention to the Pacquiao vs. Marquez III fight more so than ever before for a couple reasons.

The first is obvious: Mayweather's camp has again decided to bring up a possible Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight in May 2012.  A future opponent will always catch a fighter's utmost attention, especially a fighter of Pacquiao's magnitude.

Another reason would be the fact that Mayweather recently fought Pacquiao's upcoming opponent Marquez.  He could look at old tape of Pacquiao versus Marquez to draw comparison's on how Pacquiao fights Marquez and how his style differs to what Mayweather himself did in a 12-round win by unanimous decision, but this fight offers an even better look at the Pacquiao that Mayweather could eventually face.

That's because Pacquiao fought Marquez in 2004 in the featherweight division and then in 2008 in the super featherweight division which are the 126 lb. and 130 lb. weight classes, respectively. 

Mayweather has done his recent damage at the welterweight division and has been fighting in that weight class since 2005.  He also fought Marquez in 2009 in the welterweight division.

This third fight in the Pacquiao vs. Marquez series will be in the welterweight division which has an obvious lure for Mayweather to watch.  He will be watching to see what kind of fighter Pacquiao is in Mayweather's weight class of the last six years and change which will be very telling for Mayweather's observations, especially against a fighter that Mayweather completely dominated.

Mayweather beat Marquez in the welterweight division where Marquez has been noted to be a lot slower than in his more comfortable divisions of super featherweight or even lightweight.  Mayweather landed 290 punches back in 2009 in a fight that saw only 69 punches landed by Marquez. 

It was complete and utter domination by Mayweather, but still he was unable to knockout a very tough counter-punching Marquez who has never been knocked out in his impressive career.  If Pacquiao were able to knock Marquez out for the first time in 59 professional fights, it would surely open Mayweather's eyes.

With there already being a lot of speculation from Mayweather and his camp about Pacquiao using PEDs to move up and win world titles in a record eight different weight classes, it may raise another eyebrow if he were able to knockout Marquez in the welterweight division.

As Mayweather looks on and ponders the possible payday that would be if two of the most dominant fighters of all-time were to tangle, he would also need to consider his sparkling 42-0 professional record.  A record he is obviously very fond of and slow to throw into the ring with Pacquiao. 

Those who want a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao showdown, which is just about everyone, may not want to see a big-time knockout of Marquez.  It would just further Mayweather's concerns about how Pacquiao is training and how he has been able to do what he has.  It is already a future fight that has a lot of red tape and many hurdles to overcome, a knockout would just add to the delays.