BoxRec

Pacquiao v Marquez 3 is an intriuging fight. Like most, i'd make Pacquiao the strong favourite, his recent form has been outstanding and he is the proven fighter at the weight, age is also on his side as Marquez will be 38 come fight night.

However, i'm not writing Marquez of that easily, he ran Pacquiao to the wire in their first two encounters and i expect him to have plenty of good moments this time around. Pacquiao has hardly been hit since he last shared a ring with Marquez, but if there's one thing i feel sure about, it is that he will be hit in this fight. Marquez's style will always be a handfull for Pacquiao, even at 38, and although i see Pacquiao getting the nod with a points win, i was very surprised to see the odds being offered on Marquez:

Marquez outright 6/1
Marquez on points 11/1!!!


Am i missing something, has it really become that much of a mis-match?

The fact they are 2 weight divisions apart, yes

I definitely wouldn't make Marquez a 6/1 underdog in this fight.

The weight is practically irrelevant. Pacquiao has been getting in the ring in the high 140's lately, Marquez in the mid 140's.

Wouldn't surprise me to see them just 3-4lbs apart on fight night just like they were last time.

It's a brilliant matchup, boxer puncher vs boxer puncher but that's where the similarities end stylewise.

Marquez still has it in him to offset Pacquiao's attacks in a way that nobody else has been able to do, and also land hard shots too. I'd make Pacquiao a reasonable favourite, say 2/5 with Marquez at 2/1. It's definitely not beyond him. He practically shut Pacquiao down for large stretches of the second fight and was very unfortunate to be on the wrong end of the decision.

Pacquiao has improved a bit since then, but I don't think he's a completely changed and now flawless fighter. It's just his opponents have been of a lower calibre and unable to expose his weaknesses in the same way that JMM can.

Complete mismatch.

johnswan1 wrote:Complete mismatch.

In some ways, and I hope I am wrong, but I am not that happy about this match up.... for me Marquez beat him twice.... this time, with age, activity levels and size favouring Pacquiao - I cannot see Marquez repeating the trick and in the end, whilst Pacquiao deserves every "leg up" from historians as he can get IMO - this fight will really be one that cements Pac's legacy even further - and the fact is when they both met in their peak - for me Marquez won.

Aside from Floyd who else can Pacquiao really fight? Okay there are fights with the likes of Martinez at Middle - but really these are the only fights out there for him to further progress with the historians. Alvarez isn't going to mean much at this stage, Ortiz?, Bradley?