"No, for sure, it's not going to go the distance. You know, those fights, you know, his body didn't cooperate with him. He had problems; got him out of the game plan, got him walking into the right hand a lot. They think that they have Manny's number; the problem is that Manny just wasn't the fighter that he is now...Everything is different now and we're going to see that on November 12th," stated strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who is currently in the Philippines wrapping up the first three weeks of training in Baguiao City as Manny Pacquiao continues to prepare for his highly-anticipated third bout with Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12. According to Ariza, they're way ahead of schedule as they get set to return to California this Saturday to resume training at Wild Card gym.
"I don't think it's going to go more than three [rounds], and that's no disrespect to Marquez. I mean, it's just really a question of physiology. You got a bigger, stronger, faster fighter [in Pacquiao]," Ariza explained, sharing his thoughts on how he thinks the fight will play out in a recent interview on Pacquiao's official website, MP8.ph. "Manny is just really heavy-handed, he's quick, he's explosive and, you know, those three combinations together just makes things just worse."
Indeed, it could be an ugly night for Marquez, who is currently the reigning WBA and WBO lightweight champion. This will be only his third bout above the lightweight limit of 135 pounds, the two prior being a first-round KO win against Likar Ramos in a tune-up at 140 pounds this past July and a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2009. Despite the fact that Marquez has been Pacquiao's toughest opponent thus far, those bouts took place at 130 and 126 pounds over 3 years. Since then, Pacquiao has become a bigger, stronger, better version of the fighter that Marquez already went 24 rounds with. Not to mention, he tasted the canvas 4 times in those 24 rounds. The fact alone is a good reason to agree with Ariza when he says, ""If Manny decides to go in and knock him out, I don't see it going one [round], but it's just really, really up to Manny."
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