Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez: Rust Should Be Big Concern for Pac-Man

Rust should be Manny Pacquiao's biggest concern as it almost ruined his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez last night.

Pacquiao has not been fighting nearly as much as usual and he has continued to fight less and less since 2005. Last night's fight was only Manny's second this year.

Pacquiao is only 32, but his out-of-the-ring distractions including politics, music and more are holding him back. He does not have as much time to train as other boxers do.

Pac-Man came out very slowly last night. It took him six rounds to get back to his usual self.  For the first half of the fight he was atrocious, and Marquez was letting him have it.

Something changed drastically, however, as Pacquiao came out and went to town in the second half.

Losing badly, Pac-Man made a huge comeback. He slowly chipped away at Marquez's lead but was still trailing entering the final round. Marquez was told he was winning but still went out and tried to punish Pac-Man.

Pacquiao knew what he had to do. He came out and got himself quite a few points. He eventually won the fight with two judges giving him the lead and one saying it was a draw.

Pac-Man's rust nearly cost him a win against Marquez. He needs to be more vigilant and prepared for his fights.

If Manny were to fight Floyd Mayweather in the state he did last night he would have been knocked out.  Luckily he was still standing for the seventh round, mounted his comeback and retained his championship.

Manny needs to focus on boxing and make sure he's not rusty. While the viewers of his sparring said there was no rust, they were clearly wrong or intentionally misleading, as he almost surrendered his championship because of it.