Pacman rarin' to devour Marquez

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao is just whetting his appetite for Juan Manuel Marquez.

As he munched on his favorite steamed lobster and crabmeat Saturday evening, Pacquiao said he couldn’t wait to get his hands on Marquez.

“I was looking at him closely during the press conference.. Yum, yum,” said Pacquiao, like he wants to have Marquez for dinner.

You can sense that Pacquiao wants the third fight with Marquez so bad, so he can finally erase all doubts on their previous encounters.

“Tinitingnan ko talaga yung katawan niya,” said Pacquiao.

Then his eyes lit up as if he saw something that tells him there’s no way the Mexican can cope with him at 144 pounds.

“The first time we fought it was at 126 and the last one at 130. It’s different now. This is my weight now,” said the pound-for-pound champion.

Maybe he finds Marquez too small for him now.

He reminded Marquez of his latest fights against taller, heavier and bigger guys like Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.

“Baka hindi niya alam kung sino binubugbog ko dito (Maybe he doesn’t know the guys I’ve been beating up here),” said Pacquiao.

It’s more of a warning than a reminder.

“Iisa lang naman kasi style niya (He only has one style),” said Pacquiao as he treated his friends to dinner at the Harbour View restaurant near Luneta.

Pacquiao was told of Nacho Beristain’s comment that because he had become more technical it’s now easier to read his punches.

“He’s wrong. I can adjust to the style of my opponents. Marquez only has one style – to counter,” he said.

“What he saw in me during my latest fights, he might not see when we fight. I can adjust to any style.”

Pacquiao was in the mood to talk, and he was asked to rate Mexican fighters Erik Morales (whom he fought thrice), Marco Antonio Barrera (twice) and Marquez.

He was asked who among the three landed the heaviest punch.

“To me it’s still Barrera. Kaya lang tumakbo na siya nung huling laban (But he ran away the last time we fought),” said Pacquiao.

“Marquez? He can’t beat Morales if they ever fought.”

This should fire up Marquez a little more.

Notes: In the course of this World Press Tour’s legs in New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, and the members of the official entourage, including Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Brad Jacobs and Fred Sternburg, will be up in the air traveling 48 hours over the next five days. It started with last night’s trip from Manila to New York via San Francisco for Tuesday’s stop at the Chelsea Piers in the Big Apple. Then it’s off to Los Angeles late in the afternoon for the Beverly Hotels gig the following day. Then again it’s off to Mexico City on board a private plane for Thursday’s stop. Pacquiao has no time to spend in Marquez’ home country, that right after the show he boards the private plane on his way back to LA and be there in time to catch the 10 p.m. Philippine Airlines flight back to Manila, and he’d be home Saturday morning. Marquez is scheduled to take a direct flight of Delta Airlines to New York this morning. He leaves the country with his trainer Nacho Beristain, promoter Fernando Beltran, Top Rank’s Ricardo Jimenez and the rest of his team. Yesterday he was at the Manila Cathedral to attend the morning mass... Pacquiao didn’t mind giving away over P1 million in cash prizes during his game show that was attended by more than 70,000 fans at the Quirino Grandstand last Saturday. What got him a little bit disturbed was when he accidentally banged his wrist on a glass door, damaging the sapphire glass of his expensive Patek Philippe wristwatch. “Basag,” he rued as his men made calls, looking for a place to have it repaired as soon as possible.” Baka ipadala na lang sa Hong Kong para ipagawa doon,” said Pacquiao, noting that the dress watch was worth around P3 million.