I remember a sport pundit quipping that a tie was like kissing your sister. Well, last Saturday, we were treated to the boxing version of a tie- the draw. Manny ?the Pac Man? Pacquiao began the fight where he left off his last fight with Barrera, by devouring Marquez in the opening stanza. Marquez hit the canvas three times and it appeared that we would be treated to a short evening. The second round saw Marquez bleeding profusely out of his nose and his white shorts were as red as the Pac Man ?no-fear? bright red pants- only Marquez red came from the blood flowing from his nose. Marquez would fight the rest of the way with a broken nose.
In the third round, Marquez turned the tide of the fight and began to fight to his strength- as an excellent counter punching boxer. Instead of coming forward to the Pac Man where he was merely a target for Pacquiao left hand, Marquez forced the Pac Man to come to him. And from the third round on, it was a great fight with both fighters fighting to their strengths.
Marquez showed boxing fans why he is one of the underestimated fighters in boxing today as he maneuver the Pac Man into position for his right hand. Then there were those moments that Pac Man power sent Marquez head snapping back but then Marquez is one of those tough Mexican fighters that you have to kill to get them out. He would no longer go down and Pac Man found himself with an opponent with a will that matched his own.
Here is the bottom line. We saw two of the best featherweights fighting one another and they put on a good show. Hell, they put on a great show. Both fighters were at their best with both their strength and weaknesses exposed.
Of course, there was a debate on the scoring. How could one judge only give the Pac Man a 10-7 with three knockdowns? How could we have a ten-point difference with two of the judges scorecards?
For complete disclosure, I predicted a Pac Man win with a late round stoppage and had the fight score 115-110 in favor of the Pac Man. And while I could easily see how some could have Marquez winning, there was no way that could I see Marquez winning by five points after essentially giving up 4 points in the first round. As my good friend Frank Lotierzo noted, it would be a stretch to have given Marquez 10 out of the next eleven rounds. In my original notes on the fight, I had six rounds as very close with Pac Man winning five of those rounds but if you give two or three of those rounds to Marquez then obviously Marquez could have pulled out a close decision. So, I am not that upset over the draw. As Compubox numbers showed, Pacquiao threw more punches but Marquez was the most accurate of the two.
The final point is that this was a close fight with many close rounds, so a draw is not a highway robbery and the fans were treated to a great fight and they will be treated to a great rematch. Here is another thought to ponder. Manny Pacquiao is an ambitious fighter who wants to take on the best in the division. And that means that we will see some great fights over the next year with Pacquiao, Marquez, Morales and Barrea fighting one another for featherweight supremacy. As for Marquez, he finally moved out of the shadow of his fellow Mexicans featherweights.
Now, one more thought. I hope boxing fans read Mr. Lotierzo piece on needed changes in scoring. Mr. Lotierzo first wrote about these ideas in our book, More Tales in Ringside, and he has been one of the few writers who have written about reforming scoring in boxing. I will add that he has some ideas that are worth pursuing.
