Manny Pacquiao never takes his fights personally. The pound-for-pound king's opponents are usually quite respectful of his throne, and the easygoing Pacquiao shrugs off any stray insults with a smile. Not this time. Not in his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, the closest thing to an arch-rival for this unrivaled eight-division champion. Pacquiao's trainers are sensing an unsettling edge in the Filipino congressman, who started an all-out training regimen with pre-dawn runs and lengthy gym workouts before the fight was even announced. The steady stream of bloody, beaten sparring partners leaving the Wild Card Gym testifies to a focus that nobody in Pacquiao's camp has ever seen. “I'm not upset, but I get excited because he's claiming that he won the fights,” Pacquiao said while wrapping his hands in the broom closet that serves as his dressing room at trainer Freddie Roach's gym in Hollywood. “That's why I train hard, because I want to end this, all the doubts. This is our last fight.” Pacquiao admits he's insulted by Marquez's boastful insistence that he won their first two fights, which ended in a draw in 2004 and a split decision for Pacquiao in 2008. Marquez even traveled to the Philippines to plead his case to the public, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with: “We Were Robbed.” In truth, both bouts were dazzling displays of style and heart, with Pacquiao's aggression and toughness matching Marquez's counterpunching and combinations for 24 fascinating rounds. Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round of the first fight, and he floored Marquez once in the rematch, but Marquez rallied both times to even the bouts, doing more damage to Pacquiao than any other opponent. “It seems personal to him because he talks too much, and he needs to prove it,” said Pacquiao, who will meet Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas on Nov. 12. “He talks a lot, and it's not good for a fighter to talk a lot without action. Me, I don't talk a lot. I just do some action.” Marquez is a relentless competitor from the old-school Mexican tradition of brawlers. Marquez and his trainer, Nacho Beristain, are still sore losers about the second fight, with Beristain improbably alleging corruption in the judging when Pacquiao won by one round on one judge's scorecard. Pacquiao insists he won't be disappointed if he doesn't knock out Marquez, but his trainers will be surprised. The WBO welterweight title bout will be fought at a 144-pound catch weight, and Pacquiao fights comfortably at a weight Marquez has only tried once before — in a one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
