http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_19220611

Manny Pacquiao sat in his closet of a dressing room Wednesday at Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Surrounded by a handful of reporters and one annoying photographer who rarely stopped clicking away, Pacquiao patiently answered questions put to him.

What he didn’t do was come clean about how upset he was with Juan Manuel Marquez, who Nov. 12 will challenge Pacquiao for his welterweight championship at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (HBO pay-per-view).

They have fought twice before, in 2004 for a featherweight title and in 2008 for a super featherweight belt. Marquez got up from three first-round knockdowns in the first fight to earn a draw. Marquez complained he had won.

Pacquiao won a split decision in the second fight and Marquez and his entire camp whined in the post-fight news conference as if Marquez had beaten the daylights out of Pacquiao.

That was utterly ridiculous.

Marquez, taking it a step farther, had the temerity to display his feelings on a t-shirt in Pacquiao’s native Philippines during the recent media tour for this third fight.

Marquez just doesn’t want to give Pacquiao any credit, and that would infuriate most fighters. According to Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, his fighter is angry. He just won’t say it.

“One hundred percent yes,” said Roach, when asked if this fight is personal for Pacquiao. “The biggest slap in the face was when he came to the Philippines and wore a t-shirt that said, `I beat Pacquiao twice.’ He started campaigning in the Philippines and he had some followers in the Philippines also that were on his side.

“That was a real slap in the face for Manny Pacquiao.”

But Pacquiao was all smiles Wednesday. He had reporters laughing and vice versa. Pacquiao was asked several times in different ways to describe his displeasure with Marquez. He took only a small bite.

“I almost forget that moment,” said Pacquiao, when asked about the post-fight news conference in 2008. “Well, he has the freedom to make some alibis and reasons and complaining that he won the fight.”

Marquez at the time was promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, which had a loud voice in that 2008 snivel-fest.

“I’m not (upset) at them or Marquez,” Pacquiao said. “But, you know, I’m very motivated for this fight because the question is, what more do I need to prove just to make them satisfied that I won the fight?”

That was about as close as Pacquiao came to disclosing his feelings. Roach knows what his man really is thinking.

“When Manny hits the speed bag I put the picture of him (Marquez) wearing that t-shirt, just to remind Manny,” Roach said.

“I said to Manny, `You don’t like this guy, do you?’ He just smiled at me and walked away. He will not answer me.”

They say actions speak louder than words, and Roach buys that in this instance.

“He’s really extra motivated in this fight,” Roach said. “He’s been a little harder on his sparring partners than usual.”

Roach said Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, has expressed concern that Pacquiao is going too hard in training.

“He (Arum) said, `Freddie, you gotta slow him down a little bit,”’ Roach said. “He’s been on fire. Usually in sparring he’ll give me about 50 percent because he’s saving it for the fight.

“But now he’s giving me about 70 percent because he’s been rough on his sparring partners, until he hurts them and then he backs off.”

Arum, like Roach, believes this fight has extra meaning for Pacquiao.

“I think it’s very personal for Manny because both fights were so close and I think the whining after the second fight didn’t do Marquez any good,” Arum said.

Arum said it wasn’t like all the crying was going to get Marquez an immediate third fight.

“Really the (third) fight was going to happen now anyway,” Arum said. “In other words, it was senseless. All it did was make Marquez, who is a nice guy, look like a sore loser.”

Arum is right about Marquez. He is a good guy. But everything he has done to take away from what Pacquiao has done against him is more than likely going to end up going poorly for him.

Perhaps the way Pacquiao was smiling is the key. The guy who smiles usually is more confident than the guy who is doing all the talking, whether in the ring or in a street fight.

Take, for example, the Oscar De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas junior middleweight title bout in 2002. Vargas went berserk and started a fight with De La Hoya at a pre-fight news conference.

Vargas’ veins were bulging out of his neck as the the fighters were being separated. De La Hoya simply smiled and said, “I’m going to kick your (butt).”

De La Hoya was calm during the promotion and stopped Vargas in the 11th round. Pacquiao has been equally composed, at least on the outside.

“I’m always cool,” Pacquiao said. “I never have bad feelings for my opponent before the fight. But in the ring I have to change my aura, or myself and turn into a warrior.”

This is not good news for Marquez.