Arum insists no guarantee of KO

MANILA, Philippines - There’s really no guarantee that Manny Pacquiao can knock Juan Manuel Marquez out on Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

That’s one thing Bob Arum, who knows everything in boxing, can guarantee.

“When did Marquez ever get knocked out?” he asked.

Well, Marquez, at 38 probably the oldest Mexican champion out there, has been down a number of times, four times against Pacquiao.

But knocked out? Never.

“I don’t remember,” Arum continued.

He said while everybody around Pacquiao, including his legions of fans, is calling for a knockout, it’s really easier said than done.

Pacquiao is the only one who’s saying he’s not going for it, and if it comes, then it’s just comes as a bonus.

“Sure, Manny wants to get him knocked out. But he won’t say because he doesn’t know if he can do it,” Arum said.

It’s not because the 32-year-old Pacquiao doesn’t have the power to finish off Marquez out this time. But the big question is if he’ll ever get the chance to do it.

“We all thought Manny would knock Shane Mosley out,” said Arum of Pacquiao’s unanimous win over the American welterweight last May.

Pacquiao floored Mosley in the third round but after that Mosley, who’s also never been knocked out before, ran away.

Arum is only saying that fans can be in for a long, cold night in Las Vegas.

“When the fight was over, I said to him (Mosley), ‘What the hell were you doing?’” Arum narrated.

“And he (Mosley) said, ‘Nobody in my entire career had hit me like that and he hurt me so bad I didn’t want to get hit again. That’s something.’

“In other words, Shane had fought some good, heavy-handed boxers like Margarito or Cotto but nobody hit him as hard as Pacquiao,” Arum said.

Of course, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, the big guys, had gone through the hands of Pacquiao and ended up wearing Halloween masks.

“That tells me something. (Joshua) Clottey said the same thing when I said, ‘Why didn’t you fight him? You embarrassed everybody,’” Arum went on.

“And Joshua said, ‘When he (Pacquiao) hit me with that right hand in the first round, I knew I’ve never been hit like that in my life.’”

Arum believes in Pacquiao’s tremendous power. And still he can’t guarantee a knockout for the world’s greatest boxer today.

It’s all up to Marquez whether or not he wants to get knocked out.