Boxing is a funny sport isn’t it? You can have guys in their primes saying they will fight anyone, any place, any time. Yet, money gets in the way or maybe the two promoters get in the way because they don’t want to deal with each other. That was partly the case in the talks of a rematch between two of boxing’s best, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Up until about three days ago when Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions came to an agreement that would pin fighter’s from both promoters against each other for years to come. Well, it is about time gentlemen! Your petty disagreements were getting to be a bit ridiculous and were robbing the entire boxing world of some great match up’s.
Both Marquez and Paquiao have similar backgrounds. Neither came from money, both had a love for the sport of boxing and both have become superstars within the sport. Pacquiao has become so large of an icon in his hometown that he can hardly go anywhere without being mugged by fans. No matter who Manny fights, you can be sure his fans will be watching. Pacquiao just finished trying to run for office in his Native Philippines but was surprisingly defeated, so he resigned early from the running. As big a star as Pacquiao is in the Philippine’s, Marquez is just as big a star in his home of Mexico. So this seems like the smartest match-up to make money wise, legacy wise and fan wise, right? Yeah, if things only worked the way they were supposed to in the sport of boxing.
Pacquiao and Marquez have already matched up once, the fight took place in 2004, a fight in which Pacquiao overwhelmed Marquez early and knocked him down 3 times in the first round alone. It looked like it would be a surprisingly easy night for Manny, however Marquez had other things in mind. He took Pacquiao’s best shots, weathered the storm and regained his composure to get back in the fight. He used his superior defensive boxing skills and ring generalship to turn the tide of the fight and make Manny fight going backwards.
If you can make Pacquiao back up you have a great shot at beating him, he is a somewhat one dimensional fighter that only knows one thing, going forward and throwing bombs. Once Marquez got through the early rounds of the fight he had, in a way, taken a mental advantage on a power puncher like Pacquiao. As the fight drew to a close the fight had gotten closer on the scorecards and Marquez had erased a 10-7 first round to make the fight a draw. No one in the arena or covering the fight seemed to disagree with the outcome of the fight. Right then and there that should have been cause enough for an immediate rematch. I don’t think there is anyone who would have disagreed. Most of the boxing world feels cheated to not have seen the rematch to this fight. A fight like this can become an instant classic and the rematch is a little overdue. I’m sure most of us thought as soon as Marquez dethroned Marco Antonio Barrera that this was the next big fight we were going to see. Guess we were wrong. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last either.
As we speak Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera, another Golden Boy stable mate of Marquez have signed to fight. Now don’t get me wrong, this could be a good fight, but it is hardly the fight the world wanted to see. The so called best ”Pound 4 Pound” fighter in the world. On paper and statistics-wise this is a good match-up, but Barrera showed in his last fight against Marquez that he looks a little weathered and looks to be declining just a bit skill wise as he was out worked by Marquez late.
The fight that entire boxing world wants to see at 130 pounds is Pacquiao-Marquez II. This is the fight that matters. This is the fight that will really show who is the best at 130 pounds, and right now that fight does not include Marco Antonio Barrera. For whatever the reason may be (its not the fact that both fighters promoters don’t want to work together. Until a pact was worked out to eliminate this problem last week) Pacquiao does not want to get in the ring with Marquez. That is not something the best “Pound 4 Pound” fighter in the world does. Manny has been commended on the fact that he has fought the best competition in the last year or so. While this is a big name in Barrera, it is a safer fight than challenging the real Junior Lightweight Champion, Marquez.
Is time running out for a Pacquiao-Marquez rematch? At this stage we can say that for the simple fact, the answer is no. There are talks of Felix Trinidad coming out of retirement to challenge Roy Jones, JR., and I know a lot of the boxing world will want to watch that fight and it should have happened 5 or 6 years ago, so at this stage to think that boxing fans won’t want to see this match up in say 6 months or a year is a little premature at this point.
If Pacquiao can go in and handle and destroy Barrera like he did last time they met (an 11th round stoppage) I think it will only make a rematch with Marquez even bigger than it is right now. Marquez on the same stage needs to fight a big name and look impressive and the rematch will be huge. You don’t always have to come off a win to make a big match up in boxing. This has been proven in the past few years in match-ups like Floyd Mayweather-Zab Judah and Pacquiao-Erik Morales; fights in which Judah was coming off a loss to little known Carlos Baldomir and Morales had lost to a slick yet under the radar Zahir Raheem. Big fights just have to involve big names. No doubt a fight between Pacquiao and Barrera won’t be huge for the sport, it just won’t be as meaningful as fight with the divisions best.
Marquez has the belt and is considered the legit champion in the 130-pound division. Pacquiao wants all to believe he is the best. Well then he needs to fight the best. Manny does not have an official belt in any division and thus fighting and beating Marquez would put a stamp on him being the best fighter the division has to offer. In the opinion of most of the boxing world, beating Barrera again isn’t going to prove anything more than has already been proven to this point. Pacquiao is one of the world’s best fighters and the best thing for him to do is to prove it to us all, and to take the fight with Marquez, to show us who he is. Time has not run out on us for this showdown. It will just hurt the value a little the longer it takes the two sides to come to an agreement. So for the sake of boxing and its fans around the world, please make this fight happen next.
You owe it to us.
