There seems to be plenty of confusion still swirling around the scoring of the first round of the Manny Pacquaio-Juan Manuel Marquez WBA-IBF featherweight title bout which took place in Las Vegas on May 8, 2004. So maybe I can make the whole issue even more foggy.
Or not?
I reached out to Tim Lueckenhoff, who runs the Association of Boxing Commissions, a national group which consists of nearly all the boxing commissions who regularly oversee the sport. It was the ABC which came up with the Unified Rules of boxing.
In Pacman-Marquez I, Pacquiao dropped his fellow world champion three times in the opening round but came back to go the 12-round limit. The fight ended in a bizarre majority draw with John Stewart favoring Manny 115-110, Guy Jutras favoring the counterpuncher 115-110 and Nevadan Burt Clements knotting it up at 113-113.
The most contentious issue, even as Saturday?s rematch looms large, is the scoring of the opening round. Jutras and Stewart agreed that three knockdowns earned Pacman a huge 10-6 differential but Clements, who said he thought Nevada disfavored 10-6 rounds and preferred a 10-7 tally for multiple knockdowns, called it 10-7.
Obviously, had Clements made it 10-7 like his colleagues history would show Pacman a 114-113 winner on his card, winner of a majority decision and the Pinoy idol would?ve flown back to the Philippines with both the title belts.
Clements told a Las Vegas reporter that he ?screwed up? in not marking the round 10-7.
What does Lueckenhoff say?
I can tell you that 10/6 rounds are acceptable. However, it all depends on how Bert had the fight scored before the first knockdown. A judge must know at any given point in the round who is ahead and the boxer deserves credit now matter how small that amount,? Lueckenhoff said in our e-mail exchange.
So what does this mean? Marquez was dropped with 1:29 left in the round, with 1:08 remaining and then with 44 seconds left so I guess what the ABC bossman is saying is that some numerical value must be given to whoever Clements and the other judges felt was ahead BEFORE the first knockdown.
It looked me, watching the fight for the first time on Wednesday, that no one was ahead until Manny started dropping Juan Ma like a bad habit.
Would I have called it 10-6?
No way, Jose. If a boxer is down once, he gets docked two points and usually loses a 10-8 round. I would say if you are knocked down more than once the worst score you should be given is 10-7, not 10-6.
Even in a 12-round bout, it?s almost impossible to erase a four-point deficit without coming back to score some knockdowns yourself.
The craziest thing about the three knockdowns is that Marquez never appeared to be on the verge of being knocked out. He beat the count and seemed good to go after all three trips to the canvas.
Usually, if one guy has a three or four point advantage in one round, you have to wonder why that bout was not stopped for medical reasons.
Bottom line: the 10-6, multiple knockdown round is permissive, not mandatory.
So, Mr. Clements, don?t feel so bad.
