By Matthew Hurley: Manny Pacquiao made the twelve hour flight from the Philippines to California, arriving in Los Angeles Monday night and declared himself ready to resume training at the Wild Card Gym for his March 15th showdown with WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Trainer Freddie Roach said that serious training will begin this week and that sparring session will start in the first week of February.
“Everything is all set as far as Manny’s training program is concerned,” Roach told the Manila Bulletin.
Pacquiao began initial training on January 5th in the Philippines while Marquez began his preparations in December. The two fighters first met back in 2004 and battled to a memorable stalemate. Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round but the sturdy Mexican fought his way back into the bout, generally out boxing the Filipino icon over the next several stanzas. In the end the two bloodied fighters had given the boxing public a candidate for ‘fight of the year’ but the verdict seemed to leave little doubt that a rematch was in order. Unfortunately, money issues got in the way and Marquez, convinced that his market value equaled Pacquiao’s after his intense performance, priced himself out of a return match. His career lost momentum while Pacquiao continued his march toward both pay-per-view riches and pound-for-pound supremacy.
Marquez turned things around after a controversial loss to Chris John, altered his style just a bit in favor of a more aggressive attack, and won successive bouts culminating with back-to-back wins over Marco Antonio Barrera and Rocky Juarez. As Marquez’s star began to rise again Pacquiao appeared to have peaked after his scintillating third round knockout over Erik Morales in their rubbermatch. The seeds for the rematch that had been planted back in 2004 suddenly found root in 2007 and the long awaited rematch finally hits the neon lights of Vegas on March 15th.
The timing of the rematch will have benefited Pacquiao tremendously in terms of financial reward. According to several reports if pay-per-view sales reach 500,000 the ‘Pac Man’ stands to earn as much as $8.5 million. Marquez, now more intently focused on his legacy than his pride, took a substantial pay cut in order to get Pacquiao back in the ring with him. The usually taciturn fighter has also been relentlessly vocal in his belief that not only will he defeat Pacquiao but that he beat him the first time around as well.
According to promoter Bob Arum, who is staging the fight with Golden Boy Promotions, Pacquiao has put aside his heady lifestyle in the Philippines and has settled into a more focused frame of mind ever since boxer and promoter sat down with trainer Freddie Roach over the Christmas holidays and discussed the many distractions that have threatened to derail the fighter. Arum also noted that the bout, dubbed ‘Unfinished Business’, is already selling briskly. A press conference was scheduled for this afternoon and Arum proudly commented that by days end only about 2,000 of the 12,000 seats at the Mandalay Bay will be left for purchase.
Arum also added that should Pacquiao defeat Marquez he will then take on WBC lightweight champion David Diaz and then, if all goes according to plan, engage in a showdown with junior welterweight Ricky Hatton.
Pacquiao – Marquez II, ‘Unfinished Business’ will be broadcast on HBO pay-per-view.