LIKE any (or most, coz some fight fans enjoy 12-round wars) Pinoy boxing fan, there's nothing I love more than watching my main man Manny Pacquiao blast his opponents to kingdom come. Ever since he decided to decimate a lineup of some of the game's biggest names, Manny's been fascinating in the ring: an old school Pinoy brawler, ready to dish as much as he takes, having the grace and footspeed to dance around his opponent, dropping bombs from all angles. Superwelterweight Michael Medina, Pac's sparmate for the Margarito fight told me: "Fighting Manny is like fighting a tornado. One minute he's here, then there, then there, next thing you know he's blown you away."
But there's this one guy who claims capable of silencing the storm: Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez, he of the slick counterpunching and ring smarts, who drew with Manny the first time they clashed (one of the judges later admitted he made a mistake in scoring the bout because Manny scored three knockdowns), then lost by a hairline in a controversial split on 2008.
When I met Dinamita in Las Vegas during the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, he eagerly told me about what he would've done against the Pacman if he were in Mosley's shoes. While we watched slow-mo replay on the big screen, he pointed out Manny's wide misses on his right hooks and some split second openings in Manny's defense that Shane couldn't capitalize on. "If that was me, I would've thrown a quick 1-2 when Manny doesn't expect it."
No secret: Dinamita would like nothing more than to finish the job he started in 2004, and that is to bring the Pacman down to earth, to show the boxing world that the Pinoy pugilist is mortal, like the rest of us, that he can be hurt.
While Marquez fumed, Pacquiao dominated. At 147 pounds, his hit list includes De la Hoya, Cotto, Clottey, Margarito, Mosley, men all bigger than he is, but he beat them all up. Speed, skills, savvy. Wham! The whole bloody lot of em. Manny should go all Brad Pitt in his role as Achilles and ask "Is there no one else?" Until Money Mayweather steps up to the plate, no boxer on the planet is as feared as the dancing destroyer from General Santos City/Saranggani. Until then, it's Pacquiao-Marquez 3. For Marquez, to finish the job. For Manny, to slay demons from the past.
While Manny destroyed some of the baddest bruisers in boxing, they're not as quick, as smooth, and as deadly explosive as Dinamita on the counter. When you have Manny going all berserker barrage on you, throwing inhuman amounts of combinations, and STILL having the speed to bob and weave past your punches, you need TIMING. Marquez has proven in their past fights that the best way to hit Manny is during those split seconds of vulnerability after he throws a big punch. One punch is all Dinamita needs to get the party started.
On the flipside, Marquez has to fight a perfect fight if he wants to dethrone the most complete fighter in the world today. Speed and power. Heart and grit. Smarts and toughness. Manny can beat you early, outbox you late, run you ragged, and just flat out knock you the F out. At his natural weight, Manny is stronger and just as fast as the Filipino dynamo Marquez fought at featherweight.
Manny Pacquiao said it best. Simple and sweet. "Panahon na para tapusin to."
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