Behind the scenes with Pacquiao: Manny admits that he underestimated Marquez

by: Chris Robinson

Shortly after making his grand arrival to the city of Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon, Manny Pacquiao held a private roundtable discussion with select members of the media backstage at the MGM Grand. Pacquiao defends his WBO welterweight championship this Saturday night against undefeated Tim Bradley in an HBO pay-per-view attraction.

Despite his tremendous amount of success over the past few years, there is a bit of uncertainty for Pacquiao heading into the Bradley melee. A key reason for some of the doubts that have crept in is based on Pacquiao’s performance against his rival Juan Manuel Marquez this past November in the third encounter between the two prizefighters.

Just as was the case in their first two matches, Pacquiao-Marquez III was a tense and tactical thriller that could have went either way after twelve rounds. Despite being a huge favorite, Pacquiao was tagged repeatedly by Marquez’s counterpunching early before working his way back into the fight after the sixth round.

Looking back on that narrow victory, Pacquiao admitted that he never expected that from his Mexico City foil.

“I think we underestimated Marquez,” Pacquiao would state. “But we trained hard for this fight. The training has been the same.”

Pacquiao was then asked how he could have possibly underestimated Marquez given the competitive nature of their fights two fights.

Simple enough, The Filipino hero, who started his career at 106 pounds, pointed out that since his move up to 147 pounds to face Oscar De La Hoya in December of 2008, he had simply gotten used to dealing with larger men while Marquez was still considered the world’s best lightweight.

“I’ve been fighting with 150, 147 and then [this fight] at 140 pounds. I’ve been fighting bigger guys and then this fight is the same size,” Pacquiao stated.

Pacquiao reportedly had his share of distractions prior to the third Marquez duel, including some marital issues and a propensity for gambling and drinking. Having devoted himself to God and said to have changed his ways, Pacquiao now speaks as a man with a much better sense of what trials lie ahead.

“I agree with that. This fight I am very focused and I am happy with my training and I have peace of mind. I’m focused every day and there are no distractions,” Pacquiao added.