Photo by AP
MANILA—Figure of speech or not, Manny Pacquiao’s message revealed his desire to hand Juan Manuel Marquez a vicious beating when they tangle on November 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I’ll let him (Marquez) eat his words,” Pacquiao said in Filipino during a television interview Thursday.
The normally cautious pound-for-pound king was reacting to Marquez’s insistence that he won their first two showdowns in 2004 and 2008, which ended in a draw and split decision for Pacquiao, respectively.
Marquez, who arrived in Manila early Thursday morning for the launch of the four-city, three-nation press tour of Pacquiao-Marquez III at the Quirino Grandstand Saturday, also warned he is ready to wage another war with the eight-division champion.
As if to back his claim, Marquez jogged and did stretching exercises minutes after checking in at the Manila Hotel, where his team, including the legendary trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain, and promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank are billeted.
Pacquiao said it’s good that Marquez is preparing hard for their World Boxing Organization welterweight title duel as he will also make sure that he’s in 100-percent condition on fight night.
“He’d long been asking for a rematch, let’s give it to him,” said Pacquiao, hinting that Marquez, the World Boxing Council lightweight titlist, will be in for a rude awakening after the Filipino superstar’s victory over bigger fighters (Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley).
Pacquiao, who knocked down the Mexican three-division champion four times, three in the first bout and once in the second, also started light training earlier than usual on Monday.
Pacquiao’s training camp with the renowned Freddie Roach, however, will span eight weeks, divided equally between Baguio City and the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
The 38-year-old Marquez, who’s guaranteed $5 million for the trilogy plus pay-per-view shares in excess of one million PPV buys, paid a courtesy call on the Mexican ambassador to the Philippines yesterday, did some interviews and later had an exclusive dinner with Pacquiao, who will be receiving $20 million plus PPV shares.
Today’s schedule calls for the protagonists to walk together from the Manila Hotel, where a press conference will be held, to the venue where a projected crowd of 50,000 are expected to converge.
As a precautionary measure, a thousand policemen, including a SWAT unit, will be deployed in the area.
The affair will be covered by GMA-7, which will also bring in some of its stars to provide entertainment.
Later on, Marquez, who owns billiard halls back home, is slated to watch the World Pool Championship at SM North.