(Pacquiao vs. Marquez I, 5/8/04. Videos via HBOSports, props to BloodyElbow for the tip.)
In the lead-up to this weekend’s historic fourth meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, HBO Sports was kind enough to upload all three of their previous fights to its YouTube channel. That’s 36 rounds (and two-and-a-half hours) of some of the highest-level boxing that the sport has seen in the last ten years. Though each fight was decided on a razor-thin margin, Marquez has been unable to get his hand raised so far. Will the fourth time be a charm? And can this latest fight match up to the legendary history of the Pacquaio vs. Marquez rivalry?
Fights 2 and 3 are after the jump…
(Pacquiao vs. Marquez I, 5/8/04. Videos via HBOSports, props to BloodyElbow for the tip.)
In the lead-up to this weekend’s historic fourth meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, HBO Sports was kind enough to upload all three of their previous fights to its YouTube channel. That’s 36 rounds (and two-and-a-half hours) of some of the highest-level boxing that the sport has seen in the last ten years. Though each fight was decided on a razor-thin margin, Marquez has been unable to get his hand raised so far. Will the fourth time be a charm? And can this latest fight match up to the legendary history of the Pacquaio vs. Marquez rivalry?
Though both the Pitbull and the Maine-iac endured their shareof setbacks during their post-UFC careers, both men are currently riding win streaks. Arlovski scored back-to-back knockouts of Ray Lopez and Travis Fulton while competing in ProElite last year, while Sylvia has won his last three bouts, most recently a 12-second TKO of Randy Smith. And while you might see this match as a relatively meaningless nostalgia fight, for Arlovski it’s still very, very real. As he said earlier this year:
“I would love to fight pee-pee taste…I beat him once and he beat me twice and it’s personal. He’s the only person in the word I really want to fight; really, really fight, it’d be a nasty fight. I don’t want to talk about what would happen in the fight, he’s a piece of shit and I’d just try to kick his blah blah blah.”
Will Arlovski even the score? Will Timmy take another step toward the UFC comeback that continues to elude him? Let us know what you think in the comments section, and re-watch their first two fights after the jump…
Though both the Pitbull and the Maine-iac endured their shareof setbacks during their post-UFC careers, both men are currently riding win streaks. Arlovski scored back-to-back knockouts of Ray Lopez and Travis Fulton while competing in ProElite last year, while Sylvia has won his last three bouts, most recently a 12-second TKO of Randy Smith. And while you might see this match as a relatively meaningless nostalgia fight, for Arlovski it’s still very, very real. As he said earlier this year:
“I would love to fight pee-pee taste…I beat him once and he beat me twice and it’s personal. He’s the only person in the word I really want to fight; really, really fight, it’d be a nasty fight. I don’t want to talk about what would happen in the fight, he’s a piece of shit and I’d just try to kick his blah blah blah.”
Will Arlovski even the score? Will Timmy take another step toward the UFC comeback that continues to elude him? Let us know what you think in the comments section, and re-watch their first two fights after the jump…
(Arlovski def. Sylvia via achilles lock, 0:47 of round 1, at UFC 51, 2/5/05.)
(Sylvia def. Arlovski via TKO, 2:43 of round 1, at UFC 59, 4/15/06.)
