from: By Jun Medina / manilatimes.net
Fight fans can look forward to a thrilling and action-packed showdown between pound-for-pound king Manny “PaMan” Pacquiao and former three-time world welterweight champion Antonio Margarito from the opening bell of their November 13 showdown.
This exciting scenario surfaced as both protagonists declared their intention of mounting an early attack and taking the initiative early in their junior middleweight title fight at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
“We will attack at the start of the first and second round,” Pacquiao told Manila-based newsmen in Filipino after a strenuous morning workout Friday at the Rizal Memorial track oval in the heart of Manila.
Margarito, once the most feared welterweight in the world, has repeatedly declared his plan to pressure the smaller but quicker PacMan from the opening bell to nullify his vaunted speed.
“Bully him, bully him and keep the pressure on him every second of every round,” said Margarito’s trainer Robert Garcia on their approach to “neutralize” Pacquiao’s lightning-quick speed.
And with both camps predicting a knockout, the classic match-up between Pacquiao’s speed and quickness against Margarito’s brute force and heft could spell an early end in their 12-round title showdown.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is predicting a knockout “inside eight rounds” based on what he saw in Margarito’s last two fights. He was referring to the Mexican-American’s first knockout loss to puncher-boxer Shane Mosley in the ninth round in their January 24, 2009 welterweight title fight, and an unimpressive unanimous win by Margarito over Roberto Garcia on May 6.
Margarito and Garcia, his trainer, are more conservative: they want to take Pacquiao into the middle rounds, break down his game and knock him out by the 10th or 11th round.
These bold predictions of a knockout by both sides plus the frenetic attacking game of both fighters, conjure images of a barn-burner between two of the best welterweights in the world today.
Another factor that adds up to the mix of all-out ring war is the pride of each fighter.
By nature, Pacquiao hates being put on the defensive and he loves to take the fight to his opponents. He has done this with great success even against bigger foes, like Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey.
Margarito is not nicknamed the “Tijuana Tornado” for nothing. He is a come-forward aggressor, willing to take punishment to land his own bombs, like he did in memorable fights against the likes of Cotto, Paul Williams and Clottey.
And even when he was taking a beating from Mosley, Margarito just continued to plod forward, which was probably a key factor in the first knowckout loss of his career.
So, if Pacquiao-Margarito is not going to go the distance, who will be the one to hit the canvas and whose hands will be raised by referee?
Hear it from the coaches and decide for yourselves.
“Margarito is training like mad for this fight, always willing to give his daily workout that extra push,” Garcia said of his fighter. “Not only is he the bigger and stronger fighter; he is the hungrier fighter and he is ready to shock the world.”
Roach, who has had initial frustrations with Pacquiao distractions in training, is not worried by Margarito’s obvious size advantage.
“Size doesn’t win fights, speed does,” he once told the media who have been following Pacquiao’s training in Baguio City and in Manila.
He thinks Manny can stop Margarito even earlier than the eighth, depending on how the fight plays out and how soon each one decide to inflict mayhem on each other.
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