It was the first time Pacquiao had been knocked out since 1999, when he lost at flyweight to Medgoen Singsurat losing the WBC flyweight title, and the first defeat since 2005 when he lost a unanimous decision to Erik Morales
It was the fourth time the two rivals had met in the ring, with two wins to Pacquiao and one draw. Pacquiao walked into a looping overhand right while coming forward to attack in the final seconds of the sixth round, having already been down once.
Pacquiao had been down in the third round but then floored Marquez in the fifth and the pair continued to trade until Pacquiao was caught coming in late in the sixth.
The referee Kenny Bayless waved the fight to an end as Marquez celebrated and the sold-out crowd at the MGM erupted. Pacquiao was down for about two minutes before the Filipino’s handlers managed to get him up.
“I threw a perfect punch,” Marquez said. “I knew Manny could knock me out at any time. I felt he was coming to knock me out the last three rounds and I knew he was going to be wide open,” Marquez said. Related Articles Pacquiao and Marquez predict knock out 07 Dec 2012 Pacquiao and Marquez weigh-in 08 Dec 2012 Pacquiao and Marquez ready for fourth face off 05 Dec 2012 Maloney keen to make Price-Fury fight 08 Dec 2012 Flintoff sensible to call it a day 06 Dec 2012 Khan aims to silence critics 05 Dec 2012
It was the second loss in a row for Pacquiao, who dropped a contentious decision to Timothy Bradley in June. “I got hit by a punch I didn’t see,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao, who earned more than $20 million for the fight, was ahead 47-46 on all three scorecards after the fifth round.
“He was in charge,” Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach said. “He just got a little too careless and got hit with a punch he didn’t see.”
Pacquiao moved to 54-5-2, and Marquez to 55-6-1. There was no title on the line.
