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Manny
Pacquiao crowned himself world champion a third time,
but not after surviving an intense contest against
fierce Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday night
at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The bout
reached the full 12 rounds and went seesaw the whole
time, making the third-round knockdown scored by
Pacquiao the most crucial point that gave the revered
slugger from
General
Santos City a split-decision win for the World Boxing
Council (WBC) super-featherweight championship and the
vacant Ring Magazine People’s Title.
The
usually slow-starting Marquez had a good first two
rounds, connecting a few decent counterpunches, his best
weapon that accounted for 35 of his 48 career victories.
FOR the first time in
the history of the Eastern Hemisphere, an Asian is
crowned world champion in a third weight division.
-- AP
Marquez’s jabs opened a cut on Pacquiao’s right eye that
gave him the advantage midway through the bout. But
Pacquiao also caused a gash on Marquez’s eye in the
seventh, and the two fought the rest of the way in near
even terms.
The
round that decided the match was the third, where
Pacquiao knocked down Marquez with a left, awarding
Pacquiao a 10-8 score for the round.
Duane
Ford and Jerry Roth separately scored 115-112 to Marquez
and Pacquiao. Tom Miller’s 114-113 was the difference
which, if it weren’t for the third-round knockdown,
would’ve been a 114-all score, which meant the rematch
would’ve ended in a split draw, like the Pacquiao-Marquez
I in 2004, and Marquez retained the title.
“I
thought at that point I was in control of the fight,”
Pacquiao said. “But when he cut my eye in the fourth
round, he made it more difficult for me, and I couldn’t
take control of the fight....I wasn’t sure [heading into
the 12th round], but I always treat the final round as
the most important. I don’t take any chances.”
“It was
a close fight, but we came back at the end,” said
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. “It could have gone
either way, in my mind. Manny followed him around the
ring too much. He didn’t cut off the ring like he should
have. Marquez may have had a lot to do with that as
well. Manny was more disciplined in training than he was
in the fight tonight.”
Sunday’s
match was close as it was intense.
The
match was so intense, in fact, that Marquez’s trainer
Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain berated the judges with the
way they tallied the fight, calling it a disgrace and
harmful to the sport.
Beristain’s tirade forced promoter Bob Arum to answer
back.
“Stop
with that [expletive] because you’re [expletive] up the
sport,” Arum shouted. “There’s nothing wrong with
boxing. The judges aren’t [expletive] up the sport. You
are with those kinds of comments.”
“One
judge had it for Marquez. One had it the other way for
Pacquiao. And another judge had it close for Pacquiao,
one point,” Arum continued.
“The
media were all over the place, some for one guy and some
for the other. Grow up and be a man, and accept the
judges’ decision. I know now how stupid I looked all
those times when I complained about the decision when I
listen to you,” he added.
“One
knockdown doesn’t decide the outcome of the fight,” said
a fuming Marquez.
“I
dominated him the rest of the way. But the decision was
just like our first fight, where they dwelled too much
on those three knockdowns,” he added.
No
rematch
ARUM
ruled out an immediate rematch between Marquez and
Pacquiao, as the well-known promoter plans to pit the
newly crowned Filipino champion against WBC lightweight
champion David Diaz on June 28, also at the Mandalay Bay
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Golden
Boy Promotions (GBP) boss Richard Schaeffer even offered
the Pacquiao camp $6 million for a third fight with
Marquez.
“I’m not
saying they’ll never fight again, but you have to let it
bake for a while,” Arum said during an exchange with
Schaefer.
“Business is over. I don’t think there will be another
fight,” said Pacquiao.
Bringing
the belt to the
Philippines
is actually homecoming of sorts, as the 132-lb
championship returns to this side of the globe for the
first time since 1982, when Rolando Navarette, also a
General Santos City native, held the crown. No Filipino
has won a world title in a heavier division since.
The same
tiara was also won by Rene Barrientos and the legendary
Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, who defended the crown for seven
years, a feat that established Elorde’s boxing
greatness.
What
makes Pacquiao’s reign as world 130-lb champion distinct
is the fact that he is the first Asian fighter to win
three world crowns in three different divisions.
Pacquiao won world titles in the flyweight and
super-bantamweight divisions.
Pacquiao,
who reportedly collected $3 million, improved to 46-3-2,
with 35 knockouts, while Marquez tumbles down to 48-4-1
(35 knockouts).
Knockdown stalled Marquez
DEFENDING his WBC super-featherweight crown for the
second time, Marquez even staggered Pacquiao toward the
end of the second round with a sweeping left punch.
Pacquiao,
who is five years younger than Marquez at 29, went full
steam in the third canto and stalled what seemed to be
another dominating round by Marquez, as the Filipino
warrior floored the Mexican with a textbook left hook to
the jaw. Marquez laid flat on his back for a while, then
stood up at the count of four, only to be staggered one
more time with Pacquiao’s stinging left straights. At
the end of the round, Marquez even went to the wrong
corner.
Marquez
entered the fourth round cautiously, but soon traded
leather with Pacquiao. Both landed big punches, with
Pacquiao ending up being cut on his right eyelid. As
Pacquiao landed a strong left, Marquez countered with a
left-right combination. Marquez connected a left hook
but Pacquiao came back with his own right-left combo.
Action
slowed a bit in the fifth round, specifically after
Pacquiao got tagged a few times by Marquez’s right
counter blows.
Marquez
started the seventh with a left hook to the face, then
had more right-hand counterconnections and a blow to the
body. Pacquiao came back with a left that snapped the
back head of Marquez.
The
eighth turned out to be the best round for Marquez, as
he hurt Pacquiao to the head and body, apart from
widening the cut on the Filipino’s left eye.
“I was
really hurt in that round, but that is also because I
was not able to see his punches because of the blood
coming out of the cut in my right eye,” said Pacquiao.
More
heated exchanges happened in the ninth, mostly at the
center of the ring but the bout was temporarily halted
to check Marquez’s cut on his right eyelid. Dr. Jeff
Davidson gave his thumbs-up to referee Kenny Bayless and
the fight went on.
Pacquiao
again wobbled Marquez in the 10th with a huge left, but
what made most of the 11,061 on its feet was the furious
exchanges of both fighters.
Pacquiao
seemed to get affected badly by his still bleeding cut
on the eye, as his left straight missed its target in
the 11th. Marquez then hit Pacquiao below the boarder
and got warned for the illegal blow. After a respite,
Pacquiao went back to press the action but Marquez
remained compelling with his countershots.
Just
like most of the rounds, action was competitive in the
final three minutes of the fight, but Pacquiao ended it
with a sturdy combination. |
