I remember one day as I sat on my couch flipping through the channels, I saw that ESPN was airing all three Ali/Frazier fights. I was super excited about it so I of course went on to view all three wars from start to finish. I vividly remember the feeling I had afterwards as I sat there seeing Frazier on his stool as his great trainer Eddie Futch was stopping the fight as the last and final 15th round was about to begin. A part of me agreed with Futch?s call, but a bigger part of me felt sorry for Frazier. Here sat a man, who was willing to go out there for one more round to prove that even though he may not be as popular as his charismatic opponent, he wanted to go out and defeat his arch rival at any cost, even if death itself would be there to greet him at the end of the 15th round.
This past Saturday night, Juan Manuel Marquez was looking to do the same, minus the death part of course. Not to say that Marquez is not willing to die in the ring, it?s just that this third bout wasn?t the life and death type of bout that the first two were. Both Pacquiao and Marquez gave one another way too much respect and because of that, the controversy at the end weighed heavier than ever before. So as I watched the fight, I identified Marquez with Frazier, here was Marquez trying his hardest determined as ever to prove that he may not be as popular as his opponent but he knows how to fight him and was looking forward to show us all how to beat him.
Before the fight, I felt that Pacquiao would be way too much for Marquez this time and because of Pacquiao?s improvements, Marquez would be knocked out inside 6 rounds. I couldn?t have been more wrong, so today I eat this crow with extra sauce. I seemed to have forgotten that styles make fights and Pacquiao and Marquez have the styles that will always produce close fights between them. Pacquiao and Marquez go together like peanut butter and jelly, like Mario and Luigi, hey speaking of Mario and Luigi, doesn?t Marquez?s trainer Nacho Beristain look a whole lot like Mario? I mention it because I have always looked at Nacho even as he would stand before me as I would interview him and often thought to myself, who or what in the heck does this man look like? Then a friend of mine recently pointed out that Nacho looks like Super Mario and I freakin lost it?lol?I know, I know, so random but yet so very true.
Ok, Uh back to the lecture at hand, perfection is perfected, so I?m ?a let ?em understand, pardon me, I was listening to Dr. Dre and Snoop earlier. But really though, moving forward. I felt that it was a 115-113 fight that could have gone either way. Pacquiao looked very flat and his balance was way off, did Pacquiao once again have leg cramps? Or did the leg cramp appear in the form of Juan Manuel Marquez? Both fighters to me at times looked scared to engage, they were the opposite of Kim Kardashian. Low blow intended. I expected Marquez to be scared of trading bombs; after all, Marquez has tasted that power before and has gone down 4 times from tasting that thunder. But I did not expect for Pacquiao to be afraid of exchanging shots, seeing a gun shy Pac-Man just shocked the F out of me.
