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CNN Live Event/Special
24/7: Pacquiao-Marquez: Part Three
Aired November 12, 2011 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: The following is a presentation of HBO Sports.
Previously on "24/7":
In Hollywood, California, Manny Pacquiao's sparring partners absorbed the impact of his relentless training pace.
DAVID RODELA, SPARRING PARTNER: As soon as I got hit with the first straight left, I knew it was going to be a long three rounds for me.
NARRATOR: While in Mexico City, Juan Manuel Marquez was looking to his new strength and conditioning coach reserved his skills at a higher weight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Size has advanced. Body mechanics has advanced. (INAUDIBLE)
JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ, PRO BOXER: I think, as a fighter, you must change.
NARRATOR: And on the road, success clearly transformed Pacquiao's purchasing power. But in the gym, he's approach was unaffected.
ROACH: His lifestyle may have changed, and his bank account may be bigger, and -- but you know what? When he comes through the doors of the Wild Card, he is still the same guy.
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: In a metropolis of 20 million people, it can be difficult to find places to stand out. But Mexico City's Galleria Plaza de la Sastrias (ph) offers a home for preeminence. Today, the newest member of the mall's walk of fame is being inducted.
It's an honor Juan Manuel Marquez is proud to embrace.
MARQUEZ: Mexico is a nation that knows great fighters. It knows boxing, it knows who's good and who's not. I think it's a big responsibility, to have a nation on my back, but it's also an inspiration.
NARRATOR: Marquez does not take his popularity for granted. By contrast, he views it as a responsibility. And he connects with as many fans as he can before being escorted to the vehicle conspicuously awaiting him on the plaza. It's time to go back to work.
And at the Romanza Gym, today, there will be no boxing in the ring, only a series of drills that each pinpoint the most specific strength and conditioning objectives.
MARQUEZ: Using the weights is to build speed and power at the same time. You punch with the weights and then take them off. It's to focus on the fast-twitch muscles.
NARRATOR: Fifteen hundred miles northwest of Mexico City, Hollywood, California, is once a city of big dreams and hard realities. At the few blocks west of the 101 Freeway, at the corner of Santa Monica and Vine, the Wild Card Gym is home to a full spectrum of all Tinseltown has to offer.
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: At the start of week nine of his 10-week training camp, Manny Pacquiao's pace remains unrelenting.
While a few doors down of his merchandise and tattoo shop, the fighter's team often spends their time after workouts together.
On this day, some are in better states of mind than others.
BUBOY FERNANDEZ, TEAM PACQUIAO: Don't talk to me, I'm crying!
NARRATOR: You'll forgive Buboy Fernandez, he's receiving his first tattoo.
The image of the meteor is familiar and holds particular significance for this company of men.
MANNY PACQUIAO, PRO BOXER: (INAUDIBLE) meteor. It's special because this is a symbol for our team. Most of the people in the Philippines knows that if you have like this, a tattoo, you're Team Pacquiao.
NARRATOR: Fernandez is one of the last members of the entourage to have the signature image engraved on his forearm, even though his friendship with Pacquiao dates back to the very beginning, when impoverishment and desperation, not fame and celebrity, were facts of life.
PACQUIAO: Buboy, he is like my brothers. He's like family.
FERNANDEZ: Almost, but only half done.
PACQUIAO: We have nothing also. And then, because of the blessing from God given to me, and I share it to him.
FERNANDEZ: I can't believe that it used to be just the two of us. And then one day, boom! Now, we have 50 to 60 people in Team Pacquiao.
I never imagined this would happen to me and this could come to my life. I'm happy and thankful to the Lord for the blessings he gave to me. And I have a best friend named Manny Pacquiao. He didn't let me down. It's like, "If I become successful, you'll also become successful." We were together on our way to success.
Here it is. We have the same one!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That one looks like a fruit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: Security at the Romanza Gym is tightening in the last week of Mexico City training for Juan Manuel Marquez. Today is one of the fighter's final days of sparring and tapering off does not appear to be on the agenda.
NARRATOR: Across the gym, another world class boxer works for similar urgency, Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo, 154-pound contender also trained by Nacho Beristain, preparing for a bout on Saturday, November 5th, one week before Pacquiao-Marquez.
ALFREDO ANGULO, BOXER: We spoke and agreed there wasn't a schedule conflict, there wouldn't be any problem. Nacho spoke to Juan Manuel, and Juan Manuel had no problem with it. The experience Nacho has in boxing will get us ready for both fights. I don't think it will make either of us lose focus.
MARQUEZ: "El Perro" Angulo is training in the morning. I'm training in the afternoon, so Beristain trains with him early and me afterwards. I don't think that interferes with my training, because I know that Nacho is there, he's giving me guidance and he does it well.
NARRATOR: Beristain will work in Angulo's corner in Cancun November 5th, before joining Marquez in Las Vegas for fight week in final preparations for Pacquiao.
Oxnard, California, is 65 miles north of Los Angeles. And in a modest ranch-style house on a quiet street there, David Rodela can wait for rush hour to pass before driving to work. The sparring schedule at the Wild Card Gym allows him to devote mornings to upkeep in his new home, purchased late last year with an unexpected assist from Manny Pacquiao.
RODELA: He had asked me, "David, I heard you got married." I go, "Yes, I just got married." "Congratulations." I said, "Thank you." And he said, "Hey, did you buy a house?" I said, "Not yet."
And he goes, "Do you have credit?" I said, "I got plenty of credit," and goes, "Just don't have money."
So, he goes, "Let me help you." And then he ended up giving me a check. I was happy and blown away.
I'm not family. I'm not nothing. I don't -- he didn't have to. It was very generous of him to cut me a check and be able to help me purchase my home. So --
NARRATOR: The check was good for a down payment. A life changing gift for a fighter whose own career offered little prospect for major financial gain, but who's found contentment outside of the spotlight, the essential pleasures of life.
RODELA: I don't need to be rich. I make enough money just sparring. So, if I am known as a sparring partner, that's fine. It doesn't bug me. I guess my family has roof for their head and food on the table, I'm happy.
I go spar with the champ, the champ, the champ.
I got nothing. I mean, what can I offer him? So, the only thing the way I think I can help him and offer him by saying "thank you" is do the best that I possibly can to get him ready for the fights.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: All jobs have their routines, but occasional changes of pace can be refreshing.
The calendar of training has a handful of reliable opportunities for atypical days in the gym, including this one, media day for Juan Manuel Marquez at the Romanza.
REPORTER: How do you beat Manny Pacquiao?
MARQUEZ: With lots of speed, lots of power, and lots of experience.
REPORTER: People are saying age is going to be a problem for you.
MARQUEZ: The peaks are aged but they still turn green every year. Like any Mexican warrior, I'm going to leave blood, sweat and tears in the ring. I'm going to give it my all.
NARRATOR: The fighter is typically the central attraction at these sorts of gatherings. Today, however, there's also a focus on someone else, Marquez's strength and conditioning coach, Angel Hernandez, who has come to life in the last week, has also gone by other monikers in the past.
HERNANDEZ: My name is very long, Angel. I have a middle name, it's Guillermo. But in Mexico, (INAUDIBLE) Heredia. Some people, it's very difficult for them to catch up.
And you ask -- anybody in the media knows me as Angel. Sometimes, they call me Heredia, Dr. Heredia. For some reason, I told Hernandez, it was easier for you guys to write it down.
But I have never intend -- I don't think -- if I was a person that has something to hide, I would not be coming out on TV. I've never been banned from coaching. I've never -- you know, I have the curriculum, I have the science degrees and you know what we're doing is strictly science.
NARRATOR: On the surface, a name might seem only incidental. But several years ago, under the name Angel Heredia, he was a central figure in the United States government widespread investigation into doping in sports -- admitting to prosecutors that he supplied performance-enhancing drugs to numerous Olympic athletes, including Marion Jones. By cooperating as a federal witness, he avoided a prison term for drug trafficking.
As for this training camp, both Marquez and his coach shrug of any questions about their regimen.
MARQUEZ: If they're saying I'm using things I shouldn't, I'm ready to take a test any time they want.
ANGEL HERNANDEZ, MARQUEZ'S CONDITIONING COACH: We're not doing anything illegal. Mr. Marquez is the person I think his career speaks by itself, 26 years. I want to be working with him for about eight or nine weeks.
What he's doing, what he's achieved, it has nothing to do with me. I'm just here to develop a different program that he's never worked on. We don't have any problem.
We can do urine tests before the fight. Blood tests before the fight. We can do test before and after the fight. We have nothing to hide.
NARRATOR: Meanwhile at the Wild Card, the reaction to the news coming from Mexico City is one of indifference.
ALEX ARIZA, PACQUIAO'S CONDITIONING COACH: How do I feel about some guy involved in steroids being in Marquez's camp? I really couldn't care less. I don't expect Marquez to go outside of whatever the commission is asking them to do. You know, we'll all do whatever the required and the protocol is for testing before and after.
Me personally, I don't think any of those outside things are going to affect either one o them, and I know what we've done. And still don't think if himself came in and helped Marquez, that he's going to beat Manny.
NARRATOR: In the gym, there is not shortages of confidence.
Each night, in an apartment complex a few miles away, there is no shortage of men.
With his wife in the Philippines, Pacquiao has been staying here with his large entourage, rather than alone in his mansion in L.A. Every member of the team may not have a defined role, but collectively, their spirit sustains him.
PACQUIAO: You know, it's good to have a lot of people around me because you don't get boring. You know, you don't lonely -- and that's me. NARRATOR: The group also provides a built in and up close audience for impromptu rehearsals.
Following his last few victories in Las Vegas, Pacquiao has performed in concert at the Mandalay Bay. He appears his planning another on stage encore on November 12.
PACQUIAO: I put that hat on, but I'm not a cowboy. So what's the point?
(LAUGHTER)
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: Its heritage dates back to the very first inhabitants of Mexico, El Dia de Los Muertos, the day of the dead. For two days at the start of November, they honor those who came before, ancestors whose souls are encouraged to return to earth and hear the prayers of the living.
At its heart, the ancient festival is a reflection of the human longing for community, a discomfort with the unknown. The fear that what awaits will leave us alone forever.
By trade, boxers fight in isolation. But the stories of the greatest ever tend to also involve supporting casts of crucial characters when ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes transformative, unquestionably impact what happens in the ring as well.
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: Prayer is how the mind communicates with the soul. Fighting is how their souls communicate with the world.
Pacquiao-Marquez 3 is one week away.
Stay tuned for the finale of "24/7 Pacquiao-Marquez."
And don't miss the big fight on Saturday night, November 12th, live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: In southern California, the abundant afternoon sunshine is easy to get used to.
In his new Ferrari, Manny Pacquiao fits naturally into the landscape on his short daily commute to the Wild Card Gym. It's a drive he'll make only a few more times before heading to Las Vegas for his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez.
As the camp winds down, last minutes details must be tended to. RODELA: Is the car fast enough?
PACQUIAO: It's fast enough.
NARRATOR: Including today, handing out free fight tickets to his sparring partners.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, man.
PACQUIAO: Thank you.
NARRATOR: According to the boxer and his team, meanwhile, fight preparation has been perfectly synchronized with the calendar.
PACQUIAO: This training camp has been doing good. I am happy and excited and ready to fight.
ROACH: Yes.
ARIZA: I think at this point, you're starting to think, now, we need to start slowing things down, now we need to start pulling back. We've got there. Let's just carry this through, let's get there to fight night and just unleash him.
(PRACTICE BOXING)
ROACH: My guy is completely ready to fight. We were winding down and fine tuning, and getting ready for battle.
NARRATOR: At the Wild Card, stars from other venues around town are regular sight just outside the ropes when the champion is at work inside.
Of course, Manny Pacquiao is a celebrity in his own right. And after training, he heads to Hollywood's El Capitan Theater, where he's slated for his fifth appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show. In what's become a veritable pre-fight tradition dating back to his 2009 bout with Miguel Cotto.
And even backstage, other stars like singer Sammy Hagar seek an audience with the champ.
SAMMY HAGAR, SINGER: You're a wonderful man.
PACQUIAO: Thank you.
HAGAR: Not only are you a great fighter. I just want to say one thing, after your last fight, and you said, so, what I'm going to do next, I just want to help people, that's one of the most beautiful things I've heard come out of an athlete's mouth.
I'm honored to meet you.
PACQUIAO: Nice to meet you.
NARRATOR: The setting also provides space to show off some lesser known talents.
But as show time approaches, it's time to turn his attention to the more important business at hand.
PACQUIAO: I just practiced today this song. I just heard this song today.
(SINGING WITH JIMMY KIMMEL)
JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST: Manny Pacquiao, everyone! November 12th, Pay- Per-View, versus Marquez in Las Vegas. Thank you, Manny.
NARRATOR: As the morning sun rises in Mexico City, it is Juan Manuel Marquez's final day of training at the Romanza Gym. By design, the pace has been grueling. By nature, he is eager to test himself in the ring.
MARQUEZ: I feel a little sad because it won't be the same. But happy because now we don't have to work with the same intensity, with the same effort in training, with the exhaustion. The whole camp, the whole team has been amazing, and I'm really happy with what we've done.
NARRATOR: He close closes the 60th camp of his career with one last morning workout. Halfway through, a couple of young guests arrived to watch, 13-year-old Aldo Manuel Marquez and his 6-year-old brother Juan Emilio.
ALDO MANUEL MARQUEZ: We don't come to the gym with dad, not much. Today, we've got out of school to come see him, since he's traveling. Since he's going to the fight, we decided to come see him today. He looks really strong, I think he's ready to win the fight.
NARRATOR: Size can be an asset for securing a close view of the action, while connections are the key to gaining free reign once the ring empties.
There must be a mixture of fear and pride in having a fighter for a father. The boys are used to all facets of it by now -- the obligation to field every question that's asked, the confidence that must be injected into every answer.
ALDO MANUEL MARQUEZ: We're going to watch the fight here in Mexico. We think Pacquiao is really tough, but I think dad's training, with everything he does, the fight will be OK.
JUAN EMILIO MARQUEZ: Everything will be OK.
NARRATOR: At 5:00 a.m. the next morning, Aldo Manuel and Juan Emilio are by their father's side once again, as he heads to the airport for his flight on a private jet to the United States.
MARQUEZ: I think it's difficult career and any little thing can affect you. I believe the support of my children is very important. It's made me more mature as a father.
NARRATOR: And though the fighter's family will be staying in Mexico City, their final sendoff provides an emotional boost as he departs.
MARQUEZ: I was really glad to have been with my children. To have them support me was really gratifying. It made me really happy.
NARRATOR: On his way to Las Vegas, the fighter's itinerary first takes him to Los Angeles, for a series of promotional obligations headline by this one, an appearance at Santa Anita Park, one of the race track's busiest days of the year, Breeders' Cup Saturday.
There's a VIP tour of the grounds, and then he mingles with the crowd, revealing now north of the border, his linguistic flexibility.
REPORTER: You like having the extra muscle?
MARQUEZ: Right now, I'm 141 pounds. I feel great.
REPORTER: Are you looking for a knockout? Are you going to try to leave this out of the judges' hands?
MARQUEZ: I'd say that Pacquiao is a great fighter. (INAUDIBLE) looking for a knockout. A lot of people saw the last two fights, and people know who won the fight.
(INAUDIBLE)
MARQUEZ: Yes.
NARRATOR: After a few more photos, it's time to head back to the personalized tour bus in the parking lot, tomorrow, Las Vegas awaits.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: Over in Hollywood, it's getaway day at the Wild Card. First, though, Manny Pacquiao has a light training session scheduled, which begins with Alex Ariza trying to convince him of unlikely babysitting plan for his Ferrari, once the boxer heads back to the Philippines after the fight.
ARIZA: (INAUDIBLE), your car garage. You know what? We're like brothers and I trust you.
NARRATOR: The gym is crowded with friends and observers, looking to catch a final glimpse of the superstar in training.
Freddie Roach meanwhile is anxious to get out of town and get closer to accomplishing the team's ultimate objective.
ROACH: I'm tired of hearing those guys cry how they got robbed. And I believe Manny won both fights. With a knockout, there's no questions. Let's get this over with, Manny. When you hurt him, finish him. NARRATOR: At 3:45 Pacific Time, team Pacquiao loads up for the 5-hour drive to Vegas. A caravan of 26 vehicles will accompany the bus through the desert for a voyage that never ceases to rouse the senses.
ARIZA: I think any time you're driving into Vegas and see the lights and billboards and stuff like that, you know that you're going to blink your eyes and the next thing you know, you're walking into the ring and it moves that fast.
NARRATOR: The Marquez bout will be the 12th time Manny Pacquiao is headlined on the Strip. He'll stay as usual in a suite at the Mandalay Bay Hotel joined as ever by his outsize collection of associates. On this night, he'll leave them to tackle the buffet while he secures a good night's rest. Any looking for handouts is on their own.
Tuesday begins early for both man and beast at the UNLV track for a morning workout.
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: While this is the fighter's first bout against Marquez, it's Alex Ariza's first. And considering the strength coach was hired just after Pacquiao-Marquez 2, training for this encounter has taken on special significance.
ARIZA: I think this is the best version of Manny that we've seen yet. I think every time a fighter steps in there, his performance is a reflection of his team.
Remember, last week, all right? Just going through the motions, not all speed, just go through keeping things warm.
Don't try to break any you can, you know, records or anything.
I always say our margin of error is zero. Every time our fighters go in there, people are looking for spectacular performances. And I think if you do everything from day one all the way to the night of the fight, you go in there with all the confidence in the world. So, I don't know that in his mind himself, he can see anything other than victory.
Left hand up. Hands up. Knees, knees, pull them up, up to your stomach, up, up.
There you go, that's the one, right there. Stomach tight, get those hands up, elbows in, quick, quick. Quick. Time.
NARRATOR: While Juan Manuel Marquez stateside, a pair of other Romanza regulars have headed 800 miles east of Mexico City to the tourist paradise of Cancun for a highly anticipated Saturday night card of boxing at the convention center.
One hundred and fifty-four-pound contender Alfredo Angulo and trainer Nacho Beristain are here for the biggest night of his career against American, James Kirkland. NACHO BERISTAIN, MARQUEZ'S TRAINER: Every fight has a strategy, but we can't say anything about it, we have to keep it to ourselves.
NARRATOR: In a week, Beristain will lead Marquez to the ring at the MGM. Here in Cancun, the goal is to get the aggressive Angulo to follow his plan for victory.
FIGHT COMMENTATOR: Thirty seconds into the fight.
What an amazing comeback! Oh, my god.
FIGHT COMMENTATOR: Angulo's hurt bad!
BERISTAIN: The only mistake I can think of is that Angulo thought he was the stronger fighter. It's not just throwing punches, you have to defend yourself as well.
FIGHT COMMENTATOR: They will have to fight the stop.
FIGHT COMMENTATOR: He's going to stop it. It's a technical knockout victory for James Kirkland.
BERISTAIN: After all my experience, I always say that somewhere in the world, there's a fighter better than yours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARRATOR: Juan Manuel Marquez arrives in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon. He heads straight from the airport to his suite at the MGM Grand that will serve as his base of operations for flight week.
Beristain's flight from Cancun gets into town just an hour later. When he arrives, his pupil is curious for inside account of the bout the previous night.
MARQUEZ: What happened with the fight?
BERISTAIN: I told you it was going to be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kicking, and that's how it was.
MARQUEZ: Why did he try to finish him off instead of boxing smart?
BERISTAIN: He could have taken his time. I told him to build his fight gradually, not to go crazy if he hurt him. But he (EXPLETIVE DELETED) threw a million punches and didn't land any.
NARRATOR: It proved to be no problem for the trainer to catch up to the rest of the group today in Vegas. But the mental journey is not as painless.
BERISTAIN: My life is boxing, and everything revolves around my work. When I lose a fight, I'm so used to winning that when I lose, it's a hangover that lasts two or three days.
NARRATOR: For his part, strength coach Angel Heredia has spent the last several days addressing his past connections to performance- enhancing drugs. Now with the scene shifted to Vegas, he is eager to look forward, not back.
HEREDIA: Some people wanted us to be distracted. And, obviously, as you can see, nothing has changed, nothing has affected us at all, especially me, you know? My main concern is Juan. I want to make sure he's prepared for the fight. So, really to prove -- I don't think I have to prove anybody. I'm just happy to be here and part of the team, you know?
MARQUEZ: No distractions, nothing. All we're doing here is relaxing, staying focused on the fight. At the same time I'm playing cards, I'm thinking of the fight. I'm visualizing what it will be like, that it will be a difficult fight, that I need to do the best possible job in the ring.
NARRATOR: Marquez' actual arrival for the fight may have been quiet. The ceremonial version by definition comes with more pageantry. And when the boxer enters the MGM Grand lobby, the fans there are already primed for fight night.
MARQUEZ: With less than a week left, it's really exciting. Having the support of so many fans is something else. Something even more exciting, for me. After 18 years in this career, I feel little nerves but no pressure. All we need now is clam, it's really important to get to the fight at 100 percent.
NARRATOR: Manny Pacquiao's arrival comes 24 hours later, a scene that substantiates the sense that the 32-year-old is a boxing rock star.
ROACH: This is what he lives for. He's here to entertain people. That's what Manny Pacquiao wants to do. You know, he wants to put on a good show for everybody.
Someone told me this stage is too big for him. I said, what are you crazy? There's no stage big enough for Manny Pacquiao.
ARIZA: He goes from being serious to joking around, laugh, smiling, like he's getting ready for a party.
ROACH: He's so at home with the crowd and the attention and the cameras and the lights. He absolutely loves it. He'll be smiling until that first bell rings. Once that bell rings, here we go, it's time to fight.
Great.
NARRATOR: From the electricity of the MGM, the team heads straight to the spareness of the nearby Top Rank gym. There, fighter and trainer take one of their final opportunities to review tactics for Saturday night.
ROACH: With the fight so close, that's when I don't sleep that well. Until that bell rings, I'm still a little anxious.
Did I cover all my bases? Did I make sure everything is OK? Did I come up with the right game plan?
ARIZA: The hard stuff is already done. Just Manny and Freddie sharpen the tools and get ready for that night.
PACQUIAO: I just want to make sure that, you know, everything is under control.
NARRATOR: Twenty-four times over the last decade, they prepared for a fight together. On each occasion, only furthering the faith they share in one another, only deepening a bond that's as strong as any in the sport.
ROACH: It's a good feeling he has that much trust in me. Everything I do is for his benefit to win the fight. He knows that. I'm behind him 100 percent. I would die for Manny Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao will go down as the best fighter ever and they're going to call me the best coach because I had the opportunity to work with him. But believe me, if he didn't have the talent, I wouldn't be much.
NARRATOR: Wednesday in Las Vegas is this final pre-fight press conference at the MGM, and the final opportunity to appraise what's at stake for both men. In another bout will make a decisive contribution to their legacies.
MARQUEZ: With that desire, we're here. That desire keeps us going in this sport. I think that's how you measure a career. To be throwing yourself at it day after day. The victory will be the reward for the 18 years I've been working so hard.
PACQUIAO: I want to be remembered as a champion, as a good boxer, as a good example to all the fighters. This is the time, this is the moment, you know.
BERISTAIN: It is a natural fight between two great fighters, that has captured the attention to the world.
ROACH: Nacho's got his man ready and he looks really big and strong, and I know he's ready to go. I know me, Alex and Buboy worked really hard with Manny for the last 10 weeks. And we know our guy is ready.
MARQUEZ: I don't like talking outside the ring. I'll do my job in the ring. I prepare myself very, very hard, because I want to give another great show, another great fight.
PACQUIAO: I'm always praying, not praying for myself but praying to all the fighters who are going to fight on Saturday, especially to my opponent that nobody will get hurt. I hope that the event will be finished with joy and people will love it and enjoy it.
NARRATOR: Few events leave behind images as arresting as fights do. They eternally pause the most intolerable of moments and provide indisputable evidence of just how much the ring demands of the will.
But even if the spectacle has always been about what is visible, the craft is forever based in what is not. For you can never see a fighter's most important weapons, you're always left to imagine exactly what he carries into a bout. Resources like desire, burnish a legacy by eliminating any lingering elements of uncertainty.
Assets like desperation bring history in line with what you're convinced is already reality.
The security of the knowledge that you've been taught by the very best -- the promise of new approaches, perfectly tailored for the tempo of this brutal pursuit, an obligation to triumph on behalf of so many who have so little, an urge to prevail for those who will never lose faith in what you can make possible.
(MUSIC)
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez return to the ring together for a third time. History will preserve the pictures they leave behind. Even if it's the invisible that will fuel the story they craft.
Don't miss the big fight, "Pacquiao-Marquez 3," Saturday night, live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
This has been a presentation of HBO Sports.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
