‘STYLES MAKE THE FIGHT’

Iloilo, Negros Boxing Experts

Predict Knockout Win for Pacquiao

By ALEX P. VIDAL

If the 12-round title fight between national ring idol Manny Pacquiao and world superfeatherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez will be held anytime from now, the 29-year-old former two-division world champion from General Santos City will score a brutal knockout win before the 10th round.

This was the recent consensus of some boxing experts and analysts in Iloilo who regularly monitor the progress being made by both camps in preparation for their March 15 battle for the World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight title at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort Hotel in Las Vegas , Nevada .

“Pacquiao will score a knockout in the 8th round provided that he will make the weight easily and will not lose a pound,” said Marlon Lumacad.

Lumacad, son of veteran professional boxing trainer Mario, said nobody in the superfeatherweight division in the world today can defeat Pacquiao.”

“It will be a hard fight but Pacquiao will beat Marquez up,” said Bacolod city councilor Alex Paglumotan, who is a former commissioner of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB).

Leon town councilor Abe Beatingo, a former radioman and boxing analyst, said his mind is focused on the Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight “before there is no way for Marquez to survive Pacman’s murderous fists.”

Long-time boxing commentator and journalist Rani Jangayo said the fight between Pacquiao and Marquez “will be over in the third round with Pacquiao snatching away Marquez’s crown.”

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) regional vice president Roland Magahin of Sipalay, Negros Occidental said “if Pacquiao can not stop the Mexican champion, he will lose on points.

“But Pacquiao will win by knockout. He is the stronger fighter and he is consistent with his discipline in training,” said Magahin, foster father of former World Boxing Federation (WBF) welterweight champion William.

Magahin’s opinion was shared by column writer and insurance executive Peter Jimenea who believed that “Pacquiao is dangerous in the early rounds but can be defeated if the fight goes the distance.”

Lawyer Hansel Didulo, a boxing scholar and Rotary Club president who works for justice secretary Raul Gonzalez, Sr., however, sees Pacquiao winning over the 34-year-old Marquez on points.

“Styles make the fight,” Didulo sighed. “Marquez’s style is perfect to foil Pacman’s boxing aggressiveness and devil-may-care style. Also, consider Pacman’s weight problems.” /MP