I BELIEVE boxing judging is open to corruption. I?ve seen judges being taken out to dinner by promoters, I?ve seen representatives of governing bodies being looked after by certain promoters and managers. Let?s be honest here, boxing is a f****** racket. It?s a sport where politics and money is involved. Don?t believe that corruption at the highest level can?t exist.
However, I honestly thought that the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight was very close. As tempting as it is to blame outside forces, to me it was one of those fights where it came down to personal opinion. Boxing judges like different things, they always have done, they always will. Pacquiao was the aggressor but Marquez counter-punched very well. Given the politics I thought it could have been draw. But if there was to be a winner I thought it should have been Marquez, but that?s just my opinion; it was a close contest.
It was a fight where Pacquiao probably thought he was going to blow Marquez away but at times his aggression played into Marquez?s hands. Marquez allowed Pacquiao to bring the fight to him but Manny should have altered his approach and forced Marquez to come to him. I think Marquez has Manny?s number, sometimes that happens when fighters know each other so well. People were on the Pacquiao train and now everyone is overhyping this whole ?bad decision? thing. People should take it as what it was. Pacquiao should move on to whoever?s next and Marquez can walk away with the credit. It is what is.
Is there a solution to controversial decisions? It?s hard to be too critical because people have their own opinions, their own preferences. We all see fights differently. Jose Sulaiman claims that open scoring would solve problems with controversial decisions. How would that help? Judges would still see fights as they want to see them. Fans would still have their opinions. One judge had James Kirkland only beating Alfredo Angulo by a point when Kirkland was beating him up. That was open scoring. Did it help then? Come on.
If the Floyd Mayweather fight is next for Pacquiao it?s still a great fight, a fantastic and much needed event. Boxing is slowly losing fans and it would be a massive event for the sport. Don?t judge the outcome on this fight. Fans and critics can be short-sighted. Take each fight as a separate issue. Just because Mayweather easily beat Marquez, and Marquez gives Pacquiao trouble, doesn?t mean that Mayweather-Pacquiao is an easy fight for Floyd. I knocked some people out early who gave other fighters problems. I went the distance with guys who other people knocked out early. We can look at form, we can look at common opponents but ultimately, it all comes down to styles. And that is what Mayweather-Pacquiao will come down to.
Think about Muhammad Ali having trouble with Ken Norton and George Foreman blowing Norton away. If they?re our barometers then Ali shouldn?t have lasted 30 seconds with Foreman and we know what happened there.
Styles make fights and Pacquiao should move on, leave Marquez alone. He doesn?t need to be f****** with him no more.
