IT is almost exactly one month from today before Manny Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez again. As always, the itch is there for me to watch it live.  Why? Because every Pacquiao fight is almost a surefire treat of unparalleled thrill. 

For one, there has never been a fighter as exciting as Pacquiao in recent memory.

For another, Pacquiao has been dominating the boxing scene like no other that to see him in the flesh dishing out his thing is like watching John Lennon croon his classic “Imagine” live at the London Palladium.

To watch Pacquiao fight gives you a high no soul-lifting grass on earth can ever surpass, albeit even equal.

It singes the spirit that long after he’s done with his repertoire of shots, you’ll still be wallowing in ecstasy.

It lulls you to a surreal stupor that is beyond words of description.

This will actually be the third meeting for both, a bout that should finally decide as to who is really the better fighter between the two.

It is set on November 12 (November 13, Manila time) at the MGM Grand in glitzy Las Vegas.  This early, odds makers have placed Pacquiao to an overwhelming 8-1 favorite to defeat Marquez.

If you show surprise, quit it.

Pacquiao has been boxing’s undisputed pound-for-pound king for quite some time now.  Marquez doesn’t even come close to that.

If you ask me, Pacquiao is actually gunning for a third-straight win against Marquez.

In May of 2004, they fought to a draw when Pacquiao should have easily won that one.

Thrice Pacquiao floored Marquez in the first round.

After the draw decision at the end of 12 rounds was announced, one of the three judges stepped forward and said, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.  I gave Pacquiao a winning 10-7 score in the first round.  It should have been 10-6.”

That 10-7 reading was good only for two knockdowns.  Since Pacquiao scored three knockdowns in Round One, a 10-6 tally was the politically correct result, and would have given Pacquiao a victory.

But in boxing, as in many other contests, a verdict is almost always irreversible.

Then in March of 2008, Pacquiao finally prevailed by a split decision.

That sent Marquez into fits, accusing the judges of robbing him of victory.

In fairness, that was really a close fight. 

But Pacquiao deserved to win because he floored Marquez in the third round.

In all honesty, they fought that one on almost equal terms, trading punches with similar power and bone-jarring impact.

They fought with all guns ablaze, so to speak, and we have to salute the two warriors for their courage and bravery.

Their tenacity, their ability to weather, survive, the most telling blows ever thrown their way instantly transformed them into veritable Rocks of Gibraltar.

But then, in all honesty, too, Pacquiao was the clear winner, clinching the close triumph with that third-round knockdown he had inflicted on the Mexican.  There was even an axe-like shot uncorked by Pacquiao to the face that stunned and nearly dropped Marquez in the 10th.

Thus, Marquez crying foul after the fight was, of course, the height of unsportsmanlike conduct.  Worst, Marquez kept on harping that “I wuz robbed” line of his all this time.  Pathetic.

When a victory was stolen from Pacquiao in his 2004 fight with Marquez, not even a whimper was heard from Pacman.

And that’s typical of Pacquiao, whose second strongest suit after his power from both his fists is his gentlemanly ways.

Who would forget his classic line, “Boxing is not about killing,” uttered when he was asked why he didn’t finish off an already groggy and badly battered Antonio Margarito in 2010, with his vaunted finishing killer blows?

Marquez should really watch it this time as, last I heard, Pacquiao was pining for an early ending.

“I’m doing my most extensive training ever,” Pacquiao said moments before he boarded his PAL jet to Los Angeles on Saturday where he will hold his last four weeks of training at the Wild Card Gym in LA.  “I want to put closure to this Marquez thing.”

Pacquiao is guaranteed $20 million (close to a billion pesos) for the fight and he deserves every penny of his purse.  And that doesn’t include Pacquiao’s share in the PPV (pay-per-view) revenues on TV, which could run up to millions more.

But for the $5 million that Marquez is set to receive, he should be thankful to Pacquiao.

At 38 years of age, Marquez is an old dog—even as he knocked out his last opponent in the first round only last July.

“Oh, that fight?” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer.  “I was told Marquez had a taxi driver for a foe that night.”