Pacquiao vs Marquez 4: Marquez doesn’t believe he and Manny can ever be friends

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will be forever tied together in boxing history, something only to be cemented further when the two fight for a fourth time this Saturday on HBO pay-per-view. But, while they’ll be forever tied together in some way, their history isn’t going to lead to any sort of lifelong friendship.

At least not according to Marquez (via Bad Left Hook):

“I think that we respect each other as professionals, and I think that we’re professional boxers and we both do our jobs, but after what’s gone on in the first three fights, I doubt that we could ever have a real, personal relationship. I don’t believe that we can be that kind of friends. Inside of the ring, there’s a respect that will always be there. But outside of it, who knows?”

Fans were treated to Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns on Thursday’s special edition of “Friday Night Fights” on ESPN 2 and the two talked about their close, controversial fights of the past. Watching those two old timers still displaying some level of bitterness over the way their fights went down seemed to really drive home how hard it is for fighters to go from major rivals who punch each other in the face for money to some sort of “friends.”

Marquez also doesn’t expect this fight to be any different from the previous fights with Pacquiao, meaning he expects a war:

“I want to be in another great fight. The most important thing in this is that for this fight, Manny Pacquiao knows me, and I know him. This fight will be another war. Everybody is going to watch another war because he knows me and I know him.”

Another war and another controversial decision and I think we can write off that even slim chance of a friendship down the road.