Juan Manuel Marquez’s Blog, Part IJuan Manuel Marquez’s Blog, Part I

I was very excited to face MANNY PACQUIAO.  In his last fight he had moved up to featherweight and totally destroyed Marco Antonio Barrera in impressive fashion.  After seeing that fight my trainer NACHO BERISTAIN and I put in the hardest training camp I had ever had in preparation for defending my titles against Pacquiao

In the first minute of the fight I was getting to Pacquiao easily.  He seemed very tentative and I decided this would be a good time to be more aggressive – as a surprise attack — and back him up.

But I got careless because of the early success I had with my aggressive offensive attack and Pacquiao got caught me twice with punches I did not even see.  His speed and his movement were extraordinary.

Each time I got up from those two knockdowns I was even more determined to get him.  I was impatient and careless and that was a mistake because he knocked me down a third time, but this time I saw the punch but I couldn’t block it.   As I went down that third time in round one all I could think about was all the work that I had done for this fight and how I was not going to allow it to be wasted in the first round.

I got up went to my corner and did not feel all that bad physically because my conditioning was great.

In the corner between rounds Nacho emphasized that there were still 11 rounds left in this fight and if I stuck to our training camp strategy I could pull myself out of the hole that had me down so deep after just one round.  “Win one round at a time.  You can do it.  This is still your fight to win.  You’re the better and more complete fighter,” Nacho said.

After a tough second round I got my legs under me and won the next 10 rounds. I attacked him before he could get set and stayed away from his left hand.  He had no other weapons besides his left and he had no answers to my counterpunching and movement.

I got up from three first-round knockdowns and gave him a boxing lesson for the final 10 rounds.  I won the fight with no doubt in my mind and I’m sure no doubt in Pacquiao’s either.”

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HBO’s Emmy®-Award-winning all-access series “24/7” premieres an all-new edition when “24/7 PACQUIAO/MARQUEZ 4” debuts Saturday, Nov. 17 at 12:15 a.m. ET/PT.  The four-part series will air for three consecutive Saturday nights before the finale airs the night before the welterweight showdown in Las Vegas.

PACQUIAO VS. MARQUEZ 4 takes place Saturday, December 8 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT.