Pacquiao, Marquez renew vows for big win

LOS ANGELES/MANILA — Eight-Division world boxing champion could, indeed, be too good to be true. By the way he speaks, he sounds like an altar boy than a brawler atop the ring. He never talks ill about his opponents even if to those who often insult him.
For nine years and after three fights and 36 rounds of banging bodies and heads with Juan Manuel Marquez, the Mexican legend named “El Dinamita,” has been going all over the world proclaiming he won all those three meetings, claiming he was “robbed” of victories blaming the judges for his perceived woes.
Pacquiao and Marquez are to meet for the fourth time on December 8 at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas. Few days before the fight, the two boxers vowed to knock out each other to erase all doubts as to who is the better fighter.

To which the 33-year-old national hero could only say “ bad decisions by judges are a normal part of the sport and should not be dwelt upon,” or something to that effect, reported PNA’s Eddie G. Alinea.
Pacquiao always says the right things. He says things in soft voice as if he’s talking to a priest and making confession. He has been raised in the General Santos City by his mother Aleng Dionisia, or Mommy “D,” to be a religious as his five other siblings been.
“Mommy D taught us to pray at the start of what we’re doing and after finishing them,” he confided to Eddie Alinea in one interview. “Hindi kami pinatutulog sa gabi kung wala pa kahit isa sa amin, kasi magdadasal kami. Pagkagising, dasal na naman. “
“Wala na sigurong tatalo sa akin kung dasalan lang ang paguusapan. Even in training, before I run and before I climb the ring, I pray. Even in working with the heavy bag, double end and speed balls, I pray “ Pacquiao said.
Like Marquez, the “Pacman” is looking forward to knocking out the Mexican legend to, once and for all, erase the doubts the four-division titleholder’s believers have also been proclaiming.
Instead of saying “If he runs, I’ll cripple (h)‘im, if he comes to me, I’ll kill ‘im,” as what boxing’s bad boy Sonny Liston used to say. Or Muhammad “The Great” Ali referring to Gerogre Chuvalo as “the Washerwoman” and Floyd Patterson as the “Thud at the end of the third round” and Liston as “the Big Ol’ Ugly Bear.”
Or Joe Louis’ famous quote “He can run, but he can’t hide.”
Asked what he would do to accomplish his goal of stopping Marquez, Pacquiao merely retorted:” For five or six weeks now, I’ve been training extensively and in earnest from General Santos City to Los Angeles. When I get to Las Vegas in the final week of preparations, I will resume working out.”
“And what we’ve been doing at the camps and what we’ve learned from studying the tapes of our previous fights, trying to correct the mistakes we made, we, along with Freddie (Roach) in the corner, will implement atop the ring.
“Marquez is a good fighter. He’s, in fact, one of the best in this era. I admit, hirap talaga ako sa kanya. He’s the hardest opponent I faced,” Pacquiao said. “But he is beatable. He can be knocked down as I did to him the first two fights. “
“Me, he never sent me to the canvas in those 36 rounds that we’re in the ring. Unfair naman na sabihin nya na hindi ko siya tinalo doon sa tatlong laban na yun. Unfair din na sisihin nya ang judges. At unfair ding sabihing na ninakawan siya ng panalo,” he declared in what could be the harshest words that came from his lips. (Eddie G. Alinea/PNA)