Marquez ‘ripe for a beating’ says Morales

Photo by AP

MANILA, Philippines — Erik “El Terrible” Morales feels fellow Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez is in for a beating when he tangles with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao for the third time on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I see Marquez being weary and getting physically hurt,” Morales told BoxingScene.com Sunday. “But anything can happen in boxing so we have to wait for the fight.”

The 34-year-old Morales, who was stopped by Pacquiao in the last two bouts of their trilogy, put up a gutsy stand in losing closely to Marcos Maidana last month and is angling to forge a fourth showdown with the Filipino ring icon.

A former five-time world champion, Morales was supposed to face Marquez in April, but the fight eventually fizzled out, forcing Morales to take on the younger, bigger, stronger Maidana.

In a recent interview with bleacher report.com, Morales admitted that Pacquiao has improved a lot and has worked on things to prove a terror against bigger opponents in the welterweight division.

Pacquiao’s first two fights against Marquez ended inconclusively. The first was a draw in 2004 despite Pacquiao knocking down the Mexican three times in the first round. Pacquiao won the rematch by split decision in 2008, mainly due to a third-round knockdown.

Since then, however, Pacquiao has turned into a well-rounded and stronger fighter, dominating the likes of Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley in succession.

Though deemed a mismatch from the start, Pacquiao-Mosley was able to draw over 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, the highest-ever for the eight-division world champion, and $8,882,600 at the gates, prompting revered promoter Bob Arum to declare that Showtime gets the right to negotiate first for Pacquiao-Marquez III.

Just like Morales, rated by ESPN ahead of Mike Tyson in its Greatest Boxers of All-Time list, Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach believes his prized ward will finally be able to stop Marquez.

“I know the guy (Marquez) will be very game, but I think this time Manny will be way too strong for him,” Roach told OnTheGrindBoxing Radio on Monday. “I’m going to urge Manny to put the pressure on this guy and get him out of there so there is no doubt.”