with a perfectly timed counter straight at the end of the 6th round, instead of giving Juan Manuel Marquez credit for a job well done, people have been attributing Pacquiao’s loss to all sorts of things. Some say that Pacquiao lost because he didn’t wear a rosary. Some even blame his change of religion as the main cause of his defeat at the hands of his rival. Others even suspect that Marquez was given performance enhancing drugs by his conditioning coach, Angel Heredia, who has a history of providing PEDs to athletes before. Some Pacquiao fans also diminish Marquez’s accomplishment by saying it was just a lucky punch.
According to HBO’s boxing documentary show 24/7, Marquez started training for the Pacquiao fight months before Pacquiao even started his own training. Pacquiao only had 2 months to prepare for Marquez and even delayed his training camp at Wild Card Gym with his coach Freddie Roach, an effect of Pacquiao’s branching responsibilities as a congressman back in the Philippines, a tv game show host, and a very busy philanthropist. The effects of having a longer preparation time and right conditioning was very evident on Marquez’s body which now has more upper body muscles instead of just being lean. Pacquiao, despite only having a short training period, still came in well conditioned and prepared on fight night.
Watching both men train on HBO’s 24/7, it was clear that Pacquiao still had the hand speed advantage and the ability to blitz around the ring with ease. People who were used to seeing a smaller Marquez were surprised to see that the aging master of counter punching transformed into a massive mountain of muscles. In one of the clips shown on 24/7, Marquez destroyed a speed bag with just a single punch. Such was the increase in upper body power of Marquez.
At the day of the weigh-in came another shocker. Marquez only came in at 143 lbs, while Pacquiao registered at 147 lbs! How could a man with bulging muscles weigh less than a leaner man? Although both Pacquiao and Marquez looked ripped, the difference in weight suggested that Marquez might have an advantage in terms of body conditioning because even though he weighed much less, he already looked like the one with the stronger punches. This would let Marquez keep whatever speed his body could deliver.
When the fight started, despite Pacquiao’s big weight advantage, he was still a lot faster than Marquez. Pacquiao started peppering Marquez with jabs, hooks, and straights. Each time he landed though, Marquez would barely be affected. The power of Pacquiao’s punches directed at Marquez’s head weren’t as effective as before due to the well developed neck and shoulder muscles of Marquez. The shots that landed on Marquez’s head during rounds 1 and 2 would have sent him reeling back if he had the body he had during his third match with Pacquiao.
Marquez, despite promising an all out war from start to finish, never forgot about fighting smart. Although Pacquiao was beating him in rounds 1 and 2 in terms of punches landed, Marquez was also landing some counter shots of his own accurately, most notably the body blows which seemed to annoy Pacquiao. Marquez was also using effective feints that would confuse Pacquiao and get him into a defensive mode.
The third round finally saw Marquez’s fighting intelligence get rewarded. Marquez, after conditioning Pacquiao to think that his fake jabs would not be followed by anything thrown wide, as soon as Pacquiao easily blocked the soft jab, Marquez unleashed a large swinging hook from the right hand which dropped Pacquiao on his back. Marquez was able to learn the timing when Pacquiao would drop his left guard after Pacquiao blocked attacks, and that was how Marquez was able to accurately land his right hook. Pacquiao was still able to get back up and fight competitively until the bell rang.
Despite being knocked down previously by Marquez, Pacquiao was able to get back into form in Round 4 and put the pressure on Marquez. Round 5 saw more of the same as Pacquiao continued to land left straights on Marquez’s face. Marquez threw a jab but was immediately countered with a left straight from Pacquiao, sending Marquez down. Sensing that Marquez was vulnerable, Pacquiao continued to punish Marquez around the ring until the end of the round.
In the sixth round, Pacquiao was still pounding on Marquez’s face. Marquez remained patient with his punches. Pacquiao got Marquez into more trouble, and as if to make a statement, he rushed in with a jab only to be countered by a well placed right straight trap coming from Marquez. Pacquiao planted his face on the floor as if he was devoid of life. Noticing that Pacquiao was motionless, the referee then waived off the fight to give the knockout victory to Marquez.
Boxing is a sport where one’s body has to be prepared and conditioned just for a single night of battle. Boxers can spend years throwing the same kinds of punches until it becomes something as natural as breathing to them, sharpened continuously like a blacksmith trying to forge the sharpest of swords. There are no lucky punches in boxing. Each punch thrown has a reason, whether it is to feint and confuse an opponent, or as an honest punch that holds nothing back. Most of all, boxing is also a thinking sport. Although power, speed, and guts are all important attributes to have as a boxer, these all become useless if they cannot be utilized properly.
Marquez was the smarter warrior against Pacquiao that night. Although Pacquiao was still very fast and deadly accurate, his reflexes seem to have deteriorated. That knockdown that he suffered from Marquez’s wide right hook was something that he could have avoided, yet it seemed as if he was frozen there for a moment, unable to react. The final punch that sent Pacquiao down was really something that he couldn’t have avoided. It was a result of Marquez laying that trap at the right moment from the right distance and Pacquiao getting too carelessly aggressive.
Although Marquez won, he had to endure a lot of punches from Pacquiao. Pacquiao was able to land 94 punches out of 256 while Marquez landed 52 of 246. This is the power of a properly placed counter punch. No matter how badly the other guy is losing, it only takes one properly timed and executed punch to take out the opposition.
Saying that Pacquiao lost due to supernatural forces is very disrespectful to him, Marquez, and all the boxers of the world. It’s as if to say that no matter how hard they train, if they don’t comply with certain rituals or beliefs, they’d lose anyway. Why should anyone even bother working hard, studying, or training if you could lose it all because of something mystical?
This night, the master of counter punching won. Pacquiao has accepted his loss like the great man he is and gave Marquez the praise he deserves. Maybe it’s time for boxing fans to do the same.
