Manny Pacquiao?s run as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world ended Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It ended not with a whimper, but a bang ? the explosive impact of a perfectly thrown counter right hand from his arch-rival, Juan Manuel Marquez.
That bomb separated Pacquiao from his senses in the final seconds of the sixth round of the fourth meeting between the two future Hall of Fame inductees. This one was turning out to be the most crowd-pleasing of all their encounters, with Marquez flooring Pacquiao in the third stanza and Manny returning the favor in the fifth. Pacquiao was looking to end matters in the sixth when Marquez caught him with a single, concussive shot that Pacquiao never saw coming.
It was the ?Punch of the Year,? and it earned Marquez the victory that had eluded him in his previous three meetings with Pacquiao. Mexican idol Marquez survived three first-round trips to the deck to salvage a draw in their first encounter, came off the floor in a split-decision defeat in the second, and came up short in a majority-decision loss that many observers believe should have gone the other way. This time, Marquez won in the most emphatic way possible.
So now, Juan Manuel is basking in glory. But what does this shocking defeat say about the ?Pac-Man?? Is he washed up? Did he grow old overnight, even though he is only days away from his 34th birthday? Did he go to the well one time too often, like so many other fighters before him?
The answers are: no, no, and no.
Even though he was kayoed on Saturday, outpointed by Timothy Bradley, and suffered a moral defeat even though he got the judges? decision in his previous bout with Marquez, Pacquiao is not washed up. Despite having been decked in the third round on Saturday, he had regained the momentum and looked to be on his way to busting up Marquez?s face to the point where a stoppage was possible in the next few rounds.
The typhoon-like aggression that makes Pacquiao the fighter he is was in full force. But this time, for a split-second, that aggression proved to be his undoing as Marquez saw an opening and went for it.
Pacquiao was not humiliated, and he was not exposed. He just got nailed with a blow that would have knocked out any other welterweight it landed on, including Floyd Mayweather Jr. Of course, Mayweather was not hit by such a punch during his easy points win over Marquez a couple of years ago. With his defensive style and size advantage, Mayweather would never find himself in a position to enable Marquez? lightning to strike. Pacquiao was in that position once over the 42 rounds he and Marquez boxed. But once was enough.
If Pacquiao decides to retire in the aftermath of such an unexpected setback, more power to him. If he chooses to take on Marquez for a fifth time, more power to him. If he opts for another go at Bradley, or a comeback fight against an up-and-comer like Robert Guerrero, more power to him.
Whatever Pacquiao does in the future, though, his era is over. And what an era it was. For nearly 10 years, Manny carried the sport of boxing on his shoulders. His popularity in his native Philippines and throughout the rest of the world more than matched his scintillating performances in the ring. He?s been exactly what the allegedly ?dying? sport of boxing has needed in the face of fierce competition from the UFC and other mixed martial arts enterprises. If Manny Pacquiao didn?t exist, someone would have had to invent him.
The only point of criticism for Pacquiao is that he never made the blockbuster-of- blockbusters superfight against Mayweather at the time when interest in that match was at its peak. But that was as much Mayweather?s fault as it was Pacquiao?s.
Manny deserves the best life has to offer over the rest of his days. It?s too soon, however, to write the obituary of his boxing career.
And congratulations to Juan Manuel Marquez. He saw his opportunity, and he immediately took advantage of it. Pacquiao would have done the same thing.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers. His award-winning novel, Damballa, which centers around a fictional heavyweight title bout, is available at Amazon.com.
