Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Breaking Down Saturday's Epic Faceoff

When the bell sounds and Manny Pacquiao steps into the ring against Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday, the fight widely thought to be the bout of the year will officially be underway. 

How can we be so sure that the clash will be an epic bout? Simple: Each of the last two times Marquez and Pacquiao knocked gloves, the fight became an instant classic, with both bouts reaching full time and coming down to judges' decisions in order to determine the outcome.

So, what can we expect from Saturday's fight? 

To put it simply, the two fighters' clash certainly figures to live up to the hype, if for no other reason than the odds of either fighter scoring a knockout at this stage seems slim. Pac-Man is more renowned for his lightning quickness than his knockout power (and Marquez has never been knocked out), while Dinamita's counter-punching style isn't conducive to knocking out a fighter with the Philippine sensation's speed and toughness. 

In other words, don't expect this fight to end before the 12th round, unless someone makes a costly mistake. Neither one of these fighters has been training for a knockout, simply because they both know it's not going to happen. 

But that also means that fans dropping the cash to watch the fight on pay-per-view will certainly be getting their money's worth out of this bout. Pac Man is one of the most aggressive fighters on the planet, using his fantastic speed and quickness to counteract his severe lack of size and power, which means he'll be in Marquez's face the entire night. 

The Mexican fighter also figures to be taking some of the fight to Pac Man as well, thanks to reports that he's tweaked his fighting style to be more aggressive. Rather than waiting for an opportunity to strike Pac Man, he's going to take the fight to the Philippine superstar throughout the night. 

That means lots of striking, lots of fighting and the potential for this fight to be an all-time great one. With Pac Man's normal high level of aggressiveness and Marquez's new-found love of aggression, this figures to be an incredibly fun fight to watch.

In the end, though, the advantage lies with Pacquiao. Manny's aggressiveness comes much more naturally than Marquez's, and the Philippine fighter is much more capable of ramping up the intensity and speed than Dinamita.

If things go poorly for Marquez in the early portion of the fight, there's a good chance that the Mexican opts to revert back to his old, defensive, counter-punching style, which will play right into Pac Man's hands. 

Because the likely speed of this fight comes more naturally to Manny, look for the Philippine megastar to keep his hot streak rolling. As good of a fighter as Marquez is, Pacquiao is fighting on a completely different level than almost anyone in the world at this point. He's incredibly focused, and a focused Pac Man is almost impossible to beat at this point. 

Look for Pacquiao to keep his recent momentum rolling in this one, with the most convincing win over his longtime rival thus far. He likely won't score a knockout (Marquez has never been knocked out and, for all his skill, Pacquiao just doesn't have the necessary power to pull it off), but don't be surprised in the slightest to see Manny get the big win with a unanimous decision.