Freddie Roach Will Push Pacquiao to Knock Out Marquez

Trainer Freddie Roach tells Rick Reeno that he'll push Manny Pacquiao to knock out Juan Manuel Marquez when the two meet for a third time on November 12:

"[Marquez] will get ready for Manny and he will fight us and he won't go into a shell - like some other people have done in the past. ... I'm going to plead with [Manny], 'Do your job and knock him out and don't let him off the hook.'"

The main selling point of this fight is quickly becoming clear, and it's not that Marquez has fought Pacquiao tooth-and-nail over 24 rounds in 2004 and 2008. It's that even if this is a mismatch now -- and many feel it is -- Marquez is going to come to fight. I figured that's how many of us would convince ourselves to pay for the fight as all but a foregone conclusion, but to see the involved parties actually sell it that was is a bit surprising.

I guess they realize that it's going to be really difficult after the May 7 debacle with Shane Mosley to convince the public that Marquez is a viable threat, and it makes sense. Here are facts: Marquez is a 38-year-old lightweight who was last seen by superfight-only casual fans getting embarrassed by Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2009. Many of them are wondering what makes this fight good. The way to sell it is by promising, all "cross my heart and hope to die"-style, that Marquez will at least come to fight Manny in a way that Joshua Clottey and Shane Mosley absolutely did not in two of Pacquiao's last three bouts.