Marquez takes the long route in Pacquiao chase

MANILA, Philippines—Far from the glare of the next Manny Pacquiao blockbuster bout, Juan Manuel Marquez sits, plotting his way back into the ring opposite the Filipino ring sensation.
Spurned by Pacquiao for an immediate third fight, Juan Manuel Marquez has decided to take the circuitous route back to the top, by first taking on Joel Casamayor in October.
The Mexican, from whom Pacquiao wrested the World Boxing Council super featherweight crown on March 15, is bent on chasing the Filipino ring icon at the lightweight division.
Marquez will be fighting Casamayor, an aging lightweight, on Oct. 11 to improve his chances for another crack at Pacquiao, who’s gunning for David Diaz’s WBC lightweight belt on June 28 in Las Vegas.
The Marquez-Casamayor showdown, a brainchild of Golden Boy Promotions which handles both fighters, was reported by Michael Marley of Boxingconfidential on Tuesday.
Marquez, who went to the extent of going to the Philippines just to coax Pacquiao to another battle, believes a decisive victory over the 36-year-old Casamayor will put him back in the long queue of Pacquiao challengers.
For now, however, Marquez isn’t on Pacquiao’s radar.
The three-time world champion is deep in training at the Wild Card Gym in his bid to become the first Asian to hold world titles in four divisions.
Reports emanating from the Hollywood facility owned by celebrated trainer Freddie Roach indicate that Pacquiao is back in form, just seven pounds off the 135-pound limit.
As always, Pacquiao is working out like a man possessed.
Though he’s a 3-1 favorite to beat Diaz in their pay-per-view bout, Pacquiao is taking no chances against his fellow southpaw and Top Rank stablemate.
Roach, basing his judgment on how Pacquiao has been training so far, sees Diaz welded to the canvas late in the bout.
“David Diaz is in for a rough evening in this meeting of vaunted sluggers and Manny will send him to dreamland only to awaken when gas prices goes interminably down,” Roach told Hermie Rivera of Philboxing on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
Roach has predicted that the knockout won’t occur in the early stages of the 12-round pay-per-view showdown between noted sluggers.
“The end will come in the late rounds,” Roach said during a break in Pacquiao’s training at his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
But Diaz’s strategy could nullify Roach’s bold prediction.
Based on Diaz’s pronouncements on his Chicago Sun-Times diary, the Mexican-American champion intends to go toe-to-toe with the WBC super featherweight titlist right at the start.
“It’s going to be a real throwback type of fight,” said Diaz, who opened training camp two weeks ahead of Pacquiao. Roy Luarca