Juan Marquez: 'I will try to knock out Manny Pacquiao'

LAS VEGAS -- RingTV.com caught up to four-division titlewinner Juan Manuel Marquez, who was in attendance at The Encore Theater for Friday's weigh-in featuring Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez.

Marquez (54-6-1, 39 knockouts) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) will begin a promotional press tour next week for their fourth bout, and will visit Los Angeles, New York and Mexico City on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week.

Pacquiao has chosen to face Marquez over a return bout with Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs), whose controversial split-decision in June dethroned Pacquiao as the WBO's 147-pound titleholder and ended his 15-bout winning streak that included eight stoppages.

Marquez lost by disputed majority decision in November to Pacquiao, with whom he has also battled to a draw and lost by split-decision previously.

Marquez was so angry following the last bout with Pacquiao that he nearly retired. Instead, however, he regrouped with April's unanimous decision over Sergei Fedchenko for the WBO's junior welterweight belt.

But after waiting nearly a year, Marquez, who turned 39 in August, told RingTV.com that he finally has the rematch that he has craved.

RingTV.com: What improvements do you believe that you can make over your last performance against Pacquiao?

Juan Manuel Marquez: I've trained very hard. I've trained very hard for another run at this fight with this guy. I look at this as a new challenge. This fight, I'm training very, very hard. This fight, I will try to knock out Manny Pacquiao.

There is no way that I can let this fight be a decision, because if I do, everyone knows what will happen. That's because the judges aren't doing their jobs, so I need to train very hard to get the knockout.

RingTV.com: Is this rematch your only reason for continuing to fight after your disappointing loss the last time against Pacquiao?

JMM: Yes. I said, if you remember, in the past, in November, that I was retiring from boxing. But my inspiration to continue was that I could fight with Manny again.

I am going to tell you that I very, very badly wanted this fight, and so this is a great thing for me that it's happening again.

RingTV.com: Would you be satisfied with anything less than a knockout?

JMM: No. I'm looking for the knockout. Yes. I'm training very hard, and I'm using the past fights, which I have as experience against Manny.

I'm working very, very hard, and I want to win this fight. It's a tough fight, I will tell you. So, each fight with Manny Pacquiao is very very tough. This is a tough fight for me, again, but I am going to win this time.

Photo by Stacey Verbeek

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com