LAS VEGAS–Read Michael Marley, place your bets accordingly and get rich.
Not always but Saturday night, if you had followed the WG?s instructions, you would have cleaned up.
I wrote one column in which I insisted the ?go? bet, wagering that Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez would go the 12 full rounds at Mandalay Bay, was a virtual lock. Yeah, I sweated my way through the 36 minutes of bloody action and nearly had a heart attack every time the Nevada commission doctor went to Marquez?s corner to look at the cut eye.
This classic war of attrition left both the Mexican and the Pinoy idol in need of stitches.
But you could have walked away with more Marley Moolah because I also predicted in writing that Pacman would win this fight by decision,
He did that, with Jerry Roth calling 115-112 for Marquez, Duane Ford tabbing it 115-112 for Pacquiao and Tom Miller, the Ohio judge who came in to replace erratic Dick Flaherty, seeing it exactly as I did, 114-113, for Megamanny or 6-6 in rounds and the slim difference being the 10-8 tally Pacman got for knocking Juan Ma down.
Razor thin? Oh, yeah, but when you cash those betting tickets the cashiers don?t deduct anything from your winnings because it was so closely scored.
That third fight? It will happen. Bob Arum is posturing, as always, to get more loot but it says here you will see Pacquiao and JMM fight again, perhaps at 135 pounds and maybe early next year.
The script got some spicy flavoring here. Marquez went home a bitter loser. Marquez fought much better than he did in their split draw of four years ago.
Brilliant Marquez trainer Nacho Beristain, who is also exceedingly bitter feeling his man has twice been robbed against Pacman, had his guy fighting much more aggressively and throwing a bunch of lead right hands which is usually a highly effective tactic against a southpaw.
Southpaw, north paw?who the hell cares? These guys are mini-sized versions of Ali and Frazier in the the way the compete so hard against each other.
I?ve even got the title for the third bout: Chronic Unresolved.
Marquez knocked down, Manny being hurt four or five times and I mean really hurt. Scoring dispute,
Nastiness between the respective promoters, Richie Rich Schaefer of Golden Boy and veteran Arum at the post fight presser?the fight was a wicked bloodbath and the press conference was a verbal bloodbath as Schaefer traded Arum body shot for body shot.
Michael Marley?s last great prediction stands, there will be a Pacman-Marquez III.
Bet on it.
