Although veteran HBO color analyst Larry Merchant wasn?t in Las Vegas for the third go-round between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, he still had a deep interest in the fight from his ringside experiences during their first two encounters. Speaking on the result of Pacquiao?s recent majority-decision victory, a fight that was again razor-close and could have gone either way, Merchant had much to share during our conversation on Monday night for our ongoing column.
While there are several observers, myself included, who came away with the feeling that Marquez?s precise counterpunching and dictation of the fight had warranted enough for a victory, Merchant wasn?t as quick to jump on the wagon. Pacquiao has been on such a tremendous run of success lately that people simply had grown accustomed to dominating performances from him in the ring, according to Merchant, and anything less could easily be looked at with slight disappointment.
