Pacquiao stays overwhelming pick over triumphant Marquez

MANILA, Philippines - Not even his swift knockout of Likar Ramos could help convince the bettors that Juan Manuel Marquez stands a good chance against Manny Pacquiao.

When the fight odds for Pacquiao-Marquez 3 came out almost a month ago, the Filipino welterweight king was pegged as the overwhelming 8-1 favorite.

Pacquiao was listed by Sportsbook, the biggest live and online betting station in the United States, at -800, meaning a bet of $800 only wins a hundred bucks.

Marquez, meanwhile, was listed at +500, meaning a bet of $100 gives you a net of $500.

Pacquiao himself dismissed the odds, as he’d always done, as a mere sign of the people’s confidence in him, but not as a true gauge of how the fight should unfold.

Pacquiao has been the betting favorite over his last few fights, and the last time he climbed the ring as the underdog was against Oscar dela Hoya in December of 2008.

But everyone knows what happened in that fight, which turned out to be a huge mismatch, only that it was in favor of the fighting congressman from the Philippines.

Over a month ago, Pacquiao even thought that the odds for his third fight with Marquez, scheduled Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand, should be closer than the previous ones.

He was wrong.

Marquez had the chance to turn things around as far as the betting is concerned when he fought Colombia’s Likar Ramos last Sunday in Mexico.

The 36-year-old Mexican needed to put on a show, and give the people the hope that he has what it takes to match up with Pacquiao as a welterweight.

He did put on a show, knocking out Ramos in the 1:47 mark of the opening round. But experts were not totally convinced that Ramos was the right opponent.

Pacquiao was not impressed, much more stunned, by the Marquez win.