By: William Holmes

Weights: Juan Manuel Marquez 142 – Manny Pacquiao 143.

Photo: Chris Farina/ Top Rank

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez get ready to trade blows for a third time tomorrow in Las Vegas in front of a packed crowd. The betting lines are currently heavily in favor of Manny Pacquiao. The odds are -800 for Pacquiao, and +500 for Marquez. It will be interesting to see how those odds change after weigh ins, since observers often change their predictions for fights after they see the fighters step on the scale.

Photo: Chris Farina/ Top Rank

Crowds started gathering for the weigh ins in the morning, and view of the crowd at the weigh ins show that it is already packed with fans waving Mexican flags and Filipino flags. In 2004 Pacquiao and Marquez met at 126lbs, in 2008 they met at 130lbs, and tonight they’ll be weighing in at a catch weight of 144lbs.
Freddie Roach was interviewed before the official weigh ins, and he stated that he believes Pacquiao fights best around 148lbs. Roach notes that it’s tough for Pacquiao to keep the weight on, and if his handlers aren’t able to keep a close eye on him and feed him, he’ll easily drop down to 138lbs.

Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank

The announcers also noted that the last time Marquez bumped up to the welterweight division, he looks sluggish and slow. Marquez is hoping that this time around he’ll be able to make the move up without losing any speed. First time Pacquiao fought Marquez ended in an official score of 113-113, 115-110 for Pacquiao, and 115-110 for Marquez, making the fight a draw. The second time judges saw it 115-112 for Pacquiao, 114-113 for Pacquiao, and 115-112 for Marquez, resulting in a split decision.

Five thousand and five hundred people are at the weigh ins. Michael Buffer made his usual introductions, and Juan Manuel Marquez came out first. Marquez comes out to a mixture of boos and cheers and Mariachi music playing in the background. Pacquiao comes out to mostly cheers with what sounds like Black Eyed Peas playing in the background.

Juan Manuel Marquez steps on the scale first and weighs in at 142lbs. Marquez looks solid and ripped at 142lbs, better than when he fought Mayweather. Pacquiao steps onto the scale second without a single ounce of body fat. Pacquiao flexes and weighs in at 143lbs. Both fighters easily made the 144lbs limit, and Pacquiao will not have a huge weight advantage tomorrow night despite the fact Marquez is moving up in weight.

Both Marquez and Pacquiao look to be incredible shape, and if anything, Marquez looks to have a little more upper body muscle than Pacquiao. The referee for tomorrow night will be Tony Weeks, and the referees will be R. Hoyle, D. Moretti, and G. Trowbridge. The hype for tomorrow continues to grow, and boxing fans everywhere can’t wait to see two legends collide.

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