Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao two
Seven months later Pacquiao repeated Marquez trick in a far less thrilling contest against Marco Antonio Barrera. Winning a wide unanimous decision in a fight where the Pacman seemed unwilling to steamroll his opponent while Barrera seemed hesitant also and it looked as if he was happy to take the points defeat if that meant he would not be beaten up.
Then can the rematch Pacquiao vs Marquez 2 – Again it was close again Marquez hit the canvass this time in the third round and again Juan Manual Marquez came back stronger stunning and hurting Pacquiao throughout an enthralling fight. Although the general feeling was that Marquez had done just enough to win but like Pacquiao Marquez one there had been enough close rounds for people to legitimately argue that Pacquiao had won the fight. The results came in. It was a split decision. The judges scored it:
115 – 112 Pacquiao 112 – 115 Marquez, 114 -113 Pacquiao
The third round knockdown won it for Pacquiao on the deciding judge’s card. Another close but exciting, competitive and controversial fight had more calls for a rematch nothing had been settled.
However this time Pacquiao and his camp did not feel the same this has led to some fight fans believing that Juan Manual Marquez has Manny Pacquiao’s number. Pacquiao instead moved up in weight and picked up a title against David Diaz who was seen as the weakest link of title holders in the Lightweight division before shocking the world by battering The Golden Body Oscar De La Hoya into submission within seven rounds to cement his position as p4p number one (with or without Floyd Mayweather Jnr presence in professional boxing).
Marquez now actively chasing a rematch with Pacquiao o,moved up to Lightweight but took on the linear Champion and future Hall of Famer the Cuban boxer puncher Joel Casamayor. Although severly faded Casamayor did beat the strong Australian puncher Michael Katsidis in his last fight and had never been stopped even though he had shared the right with some murderous punchers including: Diego Corrales, Acelino Freitas and Jose Luis Castilio. In another close contest which played out as a chess match for the purist if compared to contests against Pacquiao and Barrera Marquez did what no one else had been able to do when he forced the referee to stop the fight in the 11th round.
No-one would have blamed Juan Manuel Marquez for then taking a break having fought three cast iron Hall-of-fame fighters and the always solid Rocky Juarez in his last four fights many would have forgiven Juan Manual Marquez for taking a softer touch in his next fight, Not since the late Diego Corrales has any fighter fought top competition back to back in this fashion. However Juan Manual Marquez seems to be not only chasing Manny Pacquiao but creating a legacy.
On February 28th 2009 Juan Manuel Marquez will take a fighter earmarked by many as a future star in Juan Baby Bull Diaz But how does he win the fight against the durable but intelligent pressure fighter with fast hands and underrated skills?
