Once-tough Marquez in for one tough night

Shoe leather, flank steak, wurtzite boron nitride, week-old candy corn and Mexican featherweights.

These are the toughest materials known to man.

Notice I said Mexican featherweights.

The last time Juan Manuel Marquez fought Manny Pacquiao, he was a super featherweight. The time before that, a featherweight.

A lot of people thought the Mexican won both fights, though the first was declared a draw and the second went to the soon-to-be-Filipino congressman by split decision.

On Saturday at the MGM Grand, Marquez and Pacquiao will fight a third time, as 144-pound welterweights.

Mexican welterweights are tough, too. Just not as tough as Filipino welterweights. At least not this one.

A lot of people think Pacquiao is going to win easily.

Pacquiao is a 9½-1 betting favorite.

A lot of people must think 35-year-old Mexican featherweights are tougher than 38-year-old Mexican welterweights, regardless of their ability to counterpunch.

A lot of people also must have paid $59.95 to watch Marquez get his clock cleaned by Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a welterweight in 2009.

Marquez entered the ring that night with a burrito where his abs were supposed to be. He looked soft at 142 pounds and Mayweather, who weighed in at 146, knocked him down in the second round.

Mayweather is a great fighter. He is not a powerful fighter. He doesn't knock anybody down, at least not anybody looking him in the eye, instead of looking the referee in the eye, which is what Victor Ortiz did in September when he should have been protecting himself at all times.

Everybody says Marquez has been looking strong, not soft, in training camp. He has a new strength coach. Angel Hernandez was known as Angel Heredia when he supplied former track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery with banned substances that would help them run faster and jump longer.

This guy Hernandez or Heredia told HBO he's using only science on Marquez. That leaves out blood boosters and growth hormone. And week-old candy corn.

And yet somebody said Marquez's arms are now bigger than Popeye's.

I went to Marquez's official arrival at the MGM on Monday, hoping to get a look at them. Alas, cool weather had blown in, and he was wearing a black warmup jacket zipped to the neck, with a little Mexican flag on the shoulder, instead of donning a tank top.

I didn't ask Marquez to remove his jacket. For starters, he doesn't speak English very well. And though he's now a 38-year-old welterweight, I am a 54-year-old cruiserweight whose butt he could kick from Tijuana to Guadalajara to Cozumel with one hand tied behind his back and the other in a jar of Chips Ahoy.

I will say this: When I arrived at the MGM lobby, Inez Sainz of Mexico TV Azteca already was there in her sprayed-on blue jeans. It was apparent she, too, has been refraining from the Chips Ahoy and candy corn during training. A mariachi band was playing a lively tune, though I think Inez's backside was only partially responsible.

Promoter Bob Arum ambled over to predict it will be a great fight, because styles make fights, and Pacquiao and Marquez have complementing styles, whereas Mayweather and Marquez do not. That's why this fight sold out in two weeks, Arum said. But one can still pay $64.95 to watch in HD, and that might be the bigger reason why Arum is predicting this fight will be great.

Then he told me to put up my dukes.

Bob Arum, who will turn 80 next month, gave me a boxing lesson on the spot, pulling a big right hand just before it made contact with the place where I keep my Chips Ahoy. And he said whereas Pacquiao was a one-handed fighter the first two times he fought Marquez, he's a two-handed fighter now, a switch hitter with power, like Mickey Mantle. And that's why Mayweather won't fight Pacquiao now or forever, and that's why his guy is a 9½-1 betting favorite against one of his former guys.

All I know is that scientists say wurtzite boron nitride is a substance stronger than a diamond, and that if Juan Manuel Marquez can sneak some into his boxing gloves on Saturday night, then maybe this third fight will be as good as the first two.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.