Hector’s Headlines

MANNY PACQUIAO v. JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ IV- DECEMBER 8, 2012. MGM GRAND. After three months from being robbed of his titles against Timothy Bradley, Eight division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (54-4, 38KO’s) has finally chosen his opponent, and that is his nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6,39KO’s). This will be their fourth meeting, Pacquiao winning two of those fights and a draw in the third battle. All of the fights have been controversial and Marquez is getting his final chance to try to redeem himself of the close losses. At the beginning of the potential opponent process, I was not sure if a Marquez fight was worth seeing. But even worse than that was the idea of Pacquiao fighting Bradley, a fighter who hit the lotto and still doesn’t appreciate what he has. There is no need for a rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley, because Pacquiao already won the first fight. If it wasn’t for money, the fourth fight between Marquez and Pacquiao wouldn’t even have been discussed. As to the ducking Mayweather, he continues to run from the Pacman. The only satisfaction to the fans in this fight is to see Pacquiao finally knock out Marquez, and settle all the questions of who is the better fighter. Clearly Marquez has Pacquiao’s number, but the question is, can he knock him out. The answer to that is unclear, but what is clear, is that Marquez cannot win without a knockout. Thank God Pacquiao did not give Bradley another fight, because he never really deserved the first one.

ROBERTO MARROQUIN – After a scheduled world title fight was set for Roberto Marroquin (22-1, 15KO’s) against Guillermo “El Chacal/The Jackal” Rigondeaux (10-0,8KO’s) and then cancelled because of legal complications, it is now back on. It is now scheduled to be on the undercard of the mega fight between Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. v. Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez on September 15, 2012. After the cancellation of the Rigondeaux fight, Marroquin was rescheduled to fight another opponent, who then had visa problems and that fight was cancelled. To take his place, another fighter was put in as his next opponent. Yesterday, the contract dispute between Rigondeaux was patched up and Marroquin is now set to fight against the two-time gold medalist from Cuba. Rigondeaux will be making his third defense of his WBA super bantamweight title and all of them have been by knockout. Throughout the contract dispute, Rigondeaux the southpaw was still training at the request of Bob Arum and he is said to be in fighting shape. Nevertheless, he too is in fighting shape, under the tutelage of Paul Reyes, best known for his former training of world champions, Paulie Ayala and Donald Curry. For this fight, Dallas’ son, Roberto Marroquin must bring the best fight of his young career into the ring to capture the title. It will be a hard road, but anything can happen between the ropes. All it takes is one punch.

AMIR KHAN tells Freddie Roach to dump Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., and Roach say’s, “I wish you the best.” After his loss to Danny Garcia, Khan has the gaul to give Roach an ultimatum on making him the number one boxer to be trained by the hall of fame trainer. To suggest such a thing, Khan must still be recovering from the lucky punch that he caught in his last fight.

RICKY HATTON – Rumors abound as to the return of former welterweight world champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32KO‘s) to the ring. After his devastating knockout by Manny Pacquiao in May of 2009, Hatton is on the verge of making a comeback. The British welterweight is scheduled to make an announcement on Friday. Stay tuned.