BOXING 3





Looking stunned that he was overweight, Casamayor stripped naked to try to make weight. His handlers only had a jacket to make the scene modest. Casamayor tried to make weight twice more but was still half a pound above the limit.

All the while, he left himself exposed in front of the audience for a needlessly prolonged period.

Casamayor eventually made weight after an hour.

Pacquiao will make a guaranteed $22 million for the fight, a figure that could rise to $30 million once the pay-per-view and ticket sales figures come into play. Marquez is guaranteed at least $5 million.

Marquez said he trained hard for the fight, eager to mix it up with the world’s “best pound-for-pound fighter.”

In interviews with foreign journalists, he said he would for the knockout if the opportunity presents itself.

This is the third fight between both fighters, and more than the championship at stake, the fight represents an opportunity for both fighters to decide definitively who won their two previous bouts.

While the record clearly states their head-to-head stands at a draw and a Pacquiao victory, Marquez has constantly claimed he won both matches. The first match saw Marquez rally from three knockdowns in the first round to force the draw. The second saw Pacquiao eke out a split decision, leaning on a third-round knockdown to escape with the narrow victory.

“I’m prepared to win this fight even if it takes 12 rounds,” said Pacquiao. “If the knockout is there, I will go for it, but I will not look for it.”

Pacquiao spent an hour and a half in his suite at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay in prayer, before joining his team for breakfast.