No fighter can ever hope to strive for greatness without a worthy rival to compete against.
Sugar Ray Robinson had Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier and Manny Pacquiao has Juan Manuel Marquez.
For Pacquiao and Marquez, their careers will be forever linked, and the last—and possibly final—chapter in their bouts, will serve as a defining moment in both fighters’ careers.
Matchups make fights, and these two have skill sets that create wildly entertaining fights.
Pacquiao is the more talented boxer. He has superior speed and power, and among his contemporaries, only Floyd Mayweather, Jr. can claim have equal physical gifts.
But Marquez is a gritty, determined and experienced fighter whose best attribute—counterpunching—has acted as Pacquiao’s kryptonite in each of the previous three fights.
While these three contests resulted in one draw and two victories for the Fillipino fighter, each decision has been met with disagreement from many boxing fans. Regardless of where a person falls in these debates, the contentious and close nature of these bouts cannot be disputed.
Chapter Four is likely to feature a similar story line.
The bottom line for Pacquiao is that he cannot go down as one of the all-time great fighters if he does not clearly establish himself as superior to his greatest rival. The disputed results in the previous fights have not conclusively proven that Pacquiao can go out and decisively win a fight against Marquez.
Commitment has been an issue with Pacquiao throughout his career, due to all of his other outside interests. This bout offers him an opportunity to prove that at a pivotal moment of his career, he has the ability to focus solely on boxing and put in the necessary training to be ready for Marquez.
He needs this victory, and if he does not get it, boxing fans will look back on his career and wonder how great he could have been were he fully invested in the sport.
Marquez is not as highly regarded as Pacquiao, but he has a chance to improve his standing in boxing history as well. He is one of the best fighters of his generation, but is not in the same class of Mayweather and Pac-Man.
More so than for Pacquiao's, this rivalry will define Marquez's career. These will be the most memorable bout that he takes part in, and that long-elusive victory over Pacquiao will be the most important win of his life.
With a loss, he will go back to being an excellent fighter who was a perfect foil to Pacquiao—but nothing more.
Looking at past results in the matchups between these two fighters suggests that this will be an extremely close fight, and picking a winner is difficult. But what is clear, is that whatever happens in this fight, it will significantly affect the way each fighter is viewed a decade from now.
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