Pacman to count on Mexican fans

Tagged as the Mexican assassin, Manny Pacquiao also hopes to draw support from the Mexican fans when he slugs it out with Juan Manual Marquez on March 15 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s noted trainer, said his prized ward has Mexican fans too, stressing that the power-punching Gen. Santos native is more of a typical Mexican style of a fighter than Marquez ever thought of being.

“Marquez is not a typical Mexican style fighter, he doesn’t fight in the fashion that the Mexican fans like. I’ll even say that I think Manny has more Mexican fans than Marquez does,” said Roach in an interview with Boxingtalk.com.

Pacquiao, who demolished Erik Morales in their last two fights and sent Marco Antonio Barrera into retirement last year, is in the thick of preparations for what could be his most explosive fight in years.

Roach, who earlier said that Pacquiao will go for an early knockout, said the Filipino warrior has stepped up his buildup four weeks into the keenly awaited duel.

“He’s looking very good. We had nine rounds of sparring and we used three sparring partners. I have a strong guy to press Manny, I got a counter puncher, and I got a guy that will run, all to give Manny different looks. We know the keys to victory, and we’ll show you what they are on fight night,” said Roach.

Roach also downplays Marquez’s vaunted counter-punching style.

“I don’t see him capable of doing that again. The first fight with Manny took something out of him. The best fight that I’ve ever seen Marquez in was against Pacquiao, and he’ll need to fight like that again,” said Roach.

Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round in their first faceoff in 2004 but the Mexican fought back to force a draw in a verdict that could have gone either way.