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Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is aware of the public criticisms against the arrangement of a fourth showdown between his prized fighter Manny Pacquiao and his Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez on December 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

But the long-time trainer of the former pound-for-pound king strongly believes that Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 will be the best fight in the rivalry of two great champions, echoing the previous statement of Top Rank Promotions Chief Bob Arum.

While he is confident with the chances of Pacquiao, Roach admitted that they will be having another tough fight against Marquez, whose counter-punching style seemed to be the antidote for Pacquiao’s stinging barrage of punches.

He said: “We have a tough fight ahead of us. We know that Marquez in a great counter-puncher. We are working on things to defeat that counter-puncher style. Manny is looking great in training. I like what I see. He is where I want him to be right now. His focus is where it has not been for some time. He is very focused for this fight and I think it’s going to be the best fight yet.”

Roach said that they have watched tapes of previous fights numerous times, which gave them an idea on how to dictate the fight next month. The veteran trainer revealed that they will utilize Pacquiao’s speed advantage, something they failed to during their last showdown.

Roach pointed out: “The thing is Marquez fought the fight at a slow pace the last time. We plan to fight the fight at a much faster pace this time like we did in the first fight in the early rounds – that’s where we had the most success. Going by all the tapes we have watched, we do our best when we are more aggressive. More hand speed. We are going to use a lot of that.”

Both fighters are on the final stages of their training for the December 8 bout. Pacquiao has increased his sparring sessions, focusing on being aggressive as part of their fight plan against Marquez.

Marquez, on the other hand, has reportedly improved his training regimen, which now includes swimming and plyometrics – the first time Marquez underwent this kind of training for a Pacquiao bout – to work on his strength and bulk.