CROWD
LAS VEGAS, NOVEMBER 16, 2011 (STANDARD) Manny Pacquiao
escaped again, in a decision that left Juan Manuel Marquez fuming once again.
The Filipino sensation was taken to the limit Saturday night before winning a
majority decision that infuriated his Mexican opponent and most of the sellout
crowd at the MGM Grand arena. The win may have been close, but Pacquiao still
managed to continue a remarkable run that has made him the most exciting fighter
in the sport.
In a bruising battle against a counter-puncher who was both accurate and
fast, Pacquiao needed the final round on two scorecards to pull out the win. He
got it, even though a third judge scored the round in favor of Marquez.
As boos and cans and bottles rang down on the ring, Pacquiao celebrated
another victory and another huge payday.
"My fans are very happy because they thought I won," Pacquiao said.
He did, but by the narrowest of margins. That was perhaps to be expected
considering the previous 24 rounds the two had fought were just as close.
Pacquiao won the 144-pound (65-kilogram) fight on two scorecards, while the
third ringside judge had it a draw. Marquez was so upset after the decision was
announced, he stormed out of the ring.
"This was the second robbery and this one was the worst, Marquez said.
"We won with clearer punches."
Pacquiao won some rounds with sheer aggression, while Marquez won others with
brilliant counter-punching. He picked Pacquiao apart with right hands almost
every time he tried to get inside, and landed hard flurries throughout the
fight.
One ringside judge had it a 114-114 draw, while two others favored Pacquiao
by 115-113 and 116-112. The Associated Press had it 114-114.
"Its hard when you're fighting your rival and the three judges, too," said
Marquez, who was a 7-1 underdog.
The sellout crowd threw bottles and cans toward ringside after the decision
was announced, with one full can hitting a ringside writer.
It was the 15th straight win for Pacquiao, who earned a minimum of $22
million while improving his record to 54-3-2. Marquez, who earned $5 million,
fell to 52-6-1.
The first bout between the two boxers seven years ago at 125 pounds (57
kilograms) was a draw, and Pacquiao won a split decision in their second bout in
2008 at 130 pounds (59 kilograms).
Ringside punch stats showed just how evenly matched they were in this
contest: Pacquiao was credited with landing 176 of 578 punches, while Marquez
landed 138 of 436.
The power punches were even closer, with Pacquiao connecting on 117 and to
100 for Marquez---though the Mexican seemed to land the harder punches.
Pacquiao was behind on one scorecard and only ahead by a point on a second
going into the 12th round, and the crowd was on its feet roaring for what they
expected to be a classic last round. But both fighters were tentative, brawling
only toward the end of the round.
"He was ready for my punches, Pacquiao said.
"I thought I blocked a lot of his punches."
Pacquiao found out early he would be in for a long night, taking counter
punches from Marquez in the opening rounds while looking for his own opening. He
had trouble finding his range all night and when he did get inside, Marquez
often moved to the side.
It was evident both fighters were so familiar with one another they knew what
the other was going to do, and they compensated by fighting in spurts when each
had the advantage. Neither ever seemed seriously hurt, though Marquez landed
several rights that snapped Pacquiao's head back and stopped him from coming
forward.
The two clashed heads in the ninth round, opening a cut above Pacquiao's
right eye, and he was also cut inside his mouth. Marquez wasn't cut, but his
face was swollen and his eyes were closing in the later rounds. AP
More questions than answers by Ronnie Nathanielsz
IT WAS supposed to determine, who between Manny Pacquiao and Juan
Manuel Marquez was the better boxer when ranged against each other.
Instead, boxing fans were left with more questions than answers after the
Filipino ring icon got the nod of the judges, who gave him a majority decision
at the end of his third fight with the Mexican warrior at the MGM Grand in Las
Vegas.
And so a fourth fight looms.
A fourth fight?
"Maybe we'll do it again in May," said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, although
Golden Boy Promotions has booked a May 5 date at the MGM Grand with Floyd
Mayweather Jr. and announced "Money" would return to the ring on that date " to
fight the little fella," considered as a reference to Pacquiao.
In a post-fight interview with showbiz personality Mario Lopez, Pacquiao
said: "It's very clear I won the fight, but Marquez is a good fighter and a
counter-puncher."
Asked whether he would like to fight Marquez again or face someone else,
Pacquiao replied: "I don't know, but anytime I can fight anybody as long as
there is no problem with my promoter Bob Arum."
Ordinary Pacquiao
Pacquiao looked more like a commoner, who was once again favored by the Las
Vegas judges, winning a majority decision in what turned out to be even more
hugely controversial than their 2008 rematch, which the Filipino won by a split
decision.
Pacquiao looked anything but the best fighter of all time and although it was
not his fault that he got the decision, a sellout crowd of 16,368 booed him for
almost 15 minutes and completely drowned out his interview with HBO's Max
Kellerman, while cans and water bottles were thrown into the ring by some unruly
fans.
A Fight News poll after the fight showed 58 percent of boxing fans believed
Marquez won, while only 32 percent said Pacquiao prevailed, with 10 percent
voting for a draw.
However, Arum claimed in a post-fight interview that it was only the
Mexicans, who booed, but he failed to notice than none of the many Filipinos in
the audience cheered like they normally would in a Pacquiao victory.
Many of the boxing writers, in fact, thought Marquez deserved to win, once
again raising serious questions of whether Las Vegas can give the Mexican, or
any other fighter, who faces Pacquiao, regarded as the most popular boxer today,
a fair shake.
Judges' score
The three judges at the center of another brewing storm were Robert Hoyle,
who scored the fight 114-114; Dave Moretti, who had Pacquiao the winner at
115-113 and Glen Trowbridge, who was also for the Filipino by an even bigger
116-112 margin.
The early rounds were tactical, with Pacquiao trying to entice Marquez to
come in so he could counter and prove that his skills as a fighter had improved.
But the Mexican legend didn't take the bait and bid his time before Pacquiao
initiated an exchange in the fourth round, when things began to heat up, with
Marquez scoring with a solid right at the end of the round.
Marquez landed a couple of body shots at the start of Round 5 and caught
Pacquiao with a cracking right as he came in. Marquez began to find his
counter-punching rhythm, even as Pacquiao's timing appeared to be off as the
Mexican scored with a beautiful 1-2 combination.
Pacquiao put some pressure on Marquez in Round 6, but the Mexican caught him
with a chopping right hand to stay ahead as the middle rounds turned out to be
close, but with neither fighter dominating.
Can't pull the trigger
Trainer Freddie Roach told Pacquiao at the end of the round: "Son, we are
falling behind" but failed to provide his prized possession with an answer to a
rejuvenated and bigger Marquez, who took the best shots of the Pacman and hardly
winced.
Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez told Pacquiao to move in and out and to nail
Marquez with his vaunted combinations, but Manny simply couldn't pull the
trigger.
Marquez opened a cut inside the mouth of Pacquiao and nailed him with two
good body shots in Round 8, but the Filipino, demonstrating his courage, came
back with an explosive ninth round.
But a sense of urgency was developing in Pacquiao's corner after the Fighter
of the Decade suffered a cut on the eyelid of his left eye after an accidental
clash of heads in the 10th round.
COMMENTARY
Truly, Marquez is most difficult foe for Pacquiao
WHY be disappointed? A win is a win is a win.
We are used to seeing Manny Pacquiao either knock out his foe or batter an
opponent to smithereens. So, when he could only extract a majority decision win
over Juan Manuel Marquez yesterday, we sort of like being undersold.
Quit the crap, please? Have we become a bunch of spoiled brats?
All we want is a Porterhouse steak, if not wagyu, that when we are finally
served galunggong and kangkong for dinner, we bawl like kids robbed of our
lollipops.
C'mon, it's about time we grew up.
Pacquiao is no doubt the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today.
At this stage, he can't be beaten. And he can beat anyone thrown his way.
Including Floyd "The Fraud" Mayweather, Jr.
But then, when he failed to knock Marquez out yesterday as everybody had
predicted, we next hear a lot of bull_ _ _ _.
"Pacquiao lost that fight," some said.
Others: "The judges were fixed."
Still others: "Marquez was robbed of victory yet again."
It couldn't be crueler than that.
What have we become, a nation of perfectionists?
Even the best of the best like Pacquiao can't be at his best all the time.
He's undoubtedly the present best pound-for-pound fighter because that's the
plain and simple truth.
And while it's true that he didn't knock out Marquez yesterday, the fact will
remain that he is really the better fighter of the two.
Pacquiao not winning decisively yesterday isn't enough to label him as an
unconvincing winner.
We just demand so much from him that when our expectations fall short, we
start to cuss, if not pin him down with unsavory remarks.
Such are the risks of being a world celebrity, as in Pacquiao's case.
I'm no apologist for Pacquiao but merely a keen Pacquiao watcher since he
turned pro in 1995.
Of all his opponents, it is Marquez who proves to be the most difficult.
You dispute that and you are a hopeless case.
How can Marquez be not difficult when he had fallen three times in 2004 right
in the first round and yet, he rose to snatch a draw decision?
With that kind showing, with that kind of tenacity as to see him heroically
survive three knockdowns in one round and to next proceed to steal a draw, you
can conclude he must be from another planet.
It was in their first fight that set the tone of the trilogy that even as
Pacquiao knocked down Marquez again in their return bout in 2008, the Pacman
could only secure a split decision verdict.
With their third fight ending in another points victory for Pacquiao, there
is yet another loud call for a fourth encounter.
I tell you, with the way they'd been banging each other and no one's going to
dreamland, there will never be an end to it.
Meaning, they'd finish all their succeeding fights standing that asking for
more would merely result in an utterly pathetic bore.
And so, let's leave it at that.
Enough is enough. Three fights and that's it.
Marquez is so tough that in 60 fights, he has yet to taste a knockout.
Pacquiao is so tough that even if he had absorbed again yesterday some of
Marquez's hardest punches—punches that had floored previously 39 foes—the Pacman
also wouldn't drop.
These are simply two incredible warriors with styles that do not allow for a
knockout to happen to any one of them.
Lastly, you might not have noticed it but yesterday, Marquez fought a mind
game: He didn't really mix it up from Round 1 onwards. He did not also attack
with impunity as he had promised, virtually throwing Pacquiao off-balance most
of the time.
There was none of the slam-bang affair we had seen in nearly eternity in
their first two clashes, thus effectively deleting a sure knockout—much less a
knockdown.
My score of 115-113 for Pacquiao I had proudly showed to Carlo Chungunco of
Lexus Manila, Inc.
He could only nod approvingly. Next, he handed me P17,000—my jackpot for a
P200 bet in predicting Pacquiao's majority decision victory.
Talk about luck, Sir John.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2009 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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