Welcome to my boxing mailbag ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the terrific pay per view fight on Saturday between Marquez and Pacquiao. Before we get to this weeks? questions (which are mostly about Marquez vs. Pacquiao), I would like to give my two cents on this great and historic event.
We had to wait years for the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. The anticipation built up and when the moment had finally arrived, the fighters did not disappoint the millions of boxing fans who were sitting on the edge of their seats for the duration of the twelve rounds. There were dramatic momentum changes, a fiery knockdown, blood streaming, and gutsy comebacks: all the makings of an epic war. Both men fought the rematch with an incredible amount of skill. Pacquiao fired away like always but Marquez cleverly out-boxed him for much of the fight and even picked his spots to trade with Manny similar to the way that Erik Morales did.
The third round was a reminder of why a fighter should never try to trade punches with Manny Pacquiao. After the knockdown Marquez stood with his back to the ropes and was firing away, trading shot for shot with Pacquiao, and nobody has the firepower to do that with Pacquiao and get away with it. As a result, Marquez almost went down for a second time in the third round and probably could have been ruled as down because the ropes held him up.
Pacquiao walked away with the WBC Super Featherweight Championship due to a split decision in his favor, but the score is not nearly settled. Just like in the first fight, which was scored a draw, this fight could easily have been given to Juan Manuel Marquez. Close decisions usually make me walk away feeling unsatisfied, but not in this case. The action was so heated and entertaining that I walked away satisfied even though a clear winner was not divulged. However, this fight certainly left me wanting to see more. A third fight would not bother me one bit.
Readers are already starting to chime in with their scorecards and pleading their cases as to whom they thought won and asking my opinion. To cut right to the chase, here is my scorecard for Marquez vs. Pacquiao II.
Round 1 ? 10-9 Pacquiao (close) Round 2 ? 9- 10 Marquez Round 3 ? 10-8 Pacquiao Round 4 ? 10-9 Pacquiao Round 5 ? 9-10 Marquez Round 6 ? 9-10 Marquez Round 7 ? 9-10 Marquez (close) Round 8 ? 9-10 Marquez Round 9 ? 10-9 Pacquiao (close) Round 10 ? 10-9 Pacquiao Round 11 ? 9-10 Marquez (close) Round 12 ? 9-10 Marquez
My final score was 114-113 in favor of Juan Manuel Marquez.
The fight was really easy to score aside from the rounds that I denoted above. Rounds 1,7,9, and 11 could have gone either way and I have no problem with any score for those rounds. If you notice, I scored two of the close rounds for Pacquiao and two for Marquez. My end result is Marquez pulling out the decision by the slightest of margins. I thought that the momentum changes were quite drastic and easy to spot which is why I would vehemently disagree with anyone who differs from my scorecard on the rounds that I did not denote as being close.
I am glad, by the way, that the cuts suffered by both men, especially the nasty cut suffered by Juan Manuel, did not lead to a premature stoppage to the contest. The fight was far too good to be ended on a cut. The cuts did affect the momentum of the fight at times, but for the most part had no effect (aside from grossing me out when they did a close up shot between rounds).
We continue with our Pacquiao vs. Marquez II discussions as we go into our first email of the week.
One Man?s Scorecard
The reports that have Marquez winning are starting to make me angry. Pacquiao won that fight fair. I had him winning 115-112?even the HBO scorer had Pacquiao winning. If the television announcer and the judges thought that Pacquiao won, where do these reports get off saying that Marquez won?
-BroBox
BroBox,
I had four rounds that I thought could have been scored either way. With that margin of error I could see a score of 115-112 in favor of Pacquiao at the absolute most. Anything wider than that score in favor of Manny would simply be wrong. Thankfully the judge?s tallies were within the range of reasonability (and yes, reasonability is a word). But also with that margin of error I could also understand a scorecard of 116-111 in favor of Marquez.
You are reading those reports and opinions that Marquez won because he fought a terrific fight, and tagged Pacquiao with many clean punches throughout the fight. In my eyes, Marquez did enough to win the fight. Really, both men did enough to win the fight, which is why I don?t have a problem with the decision. But like I said above, fans who scored the match for Marquez had every right to do so.
Another Man?s Scorecard
I don?t think that 115-112 for Pacquiao is a fair score. Maybe I can see 114-113 for Pacquiao but 115-112 is just too wide. I thought that Marquez won the fight by a couple points even with the knockdown. I don?t like how the HBO commentator team is so biased towards Pacquiao because he is the house boxer. It was a good fight overall but I just wish that the right person had won.
-Bernie
Bernie,
I had Marquez winning 114-113 and although the judges busted my official prediction of Marquez by decision I am not super upset at the verdict. I can understand how someone can score the fight for Pacquiao. I have certainly seen much, much worse as far as poor judging is concerned.
Even though Pacquiao is 1-0-1 in his fights with Marquez, the two fighters have basically proven that they are each other?s equals. Pacquiao may officially have a winning record over JM Marquez, but history will not look at Pacquiao as the winner of these fights because of the close and controversial nature of both. A third fight is necessary for closure and for determining who the better fighter is.
Pacquiao?s Move To Lightweight
Hi Brian, props to your mailbag. You always give great impartial insight that I enjoy reading. I am a big fan of Manny Pacquiao, but I will be glad when he wins on Saturday and finally moves up to the lightweight division. But not because I am Filipino and therefore blindly root for him like some Pacmaniacs do, but because I think he’s causing a logjam in the jr. lightweight division.
Once Pac has ascended into the 135lb. class, stellar match ups can be made between any of combination of these pugs: Guzman v. Marquez v. Valero v. Barrios v. Vasquez (if he decides to move up) v. Soto v. Linares (if he decides to move up) v. Juarez. I just have a feeling that everyone was protecting their records to get a shot at Pacquiao and with him gone, they might be more apt to fight each other for big pay days. I just hope they don’t all just follow Pacquiao in search of the money. What do you think?
-Sunnyvale Jose
Jose,
You might be right about the rest of the 130-pound division playing it safe in an attempt to cash in on a Pacquiao fight. The exception is Joan Guzman who risked his status against a very dangerous Humberto Soto. Super featherweight is a deep division that can create enticing match ups with or without Pacquiao. The names that you mentioned are dynamite fighters. I especially want to see how Edwin Valero does once he steps up his level of competition.
In all honesty, I would rather see Manny Pacquiao stay at 130. Pacquiao is moving up to lightweight to fight David Diaz in a fight that is not appealing to me at all. I do not think much of Diaz as a ?champion? and his performance on the undercard last Saturday did nothing to change my mind. Diaz is one of the worst title holders of recent memory and Bob Arum is only choosing him as an opponent for Pacquiao because he wants to give Manny a nice easy path to a title at lightweight. Diaz?s only chance in that fight is to land a lucky punch against Pacquiao in a fight that he is losing similar to what he did against Jose Armando Santa Cruz.
There are much more appealing fights for Manny if he stays put at 130 pounds. First, there is another rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez, which is the best possible fight available for him. Also, Edwin Valero and Joan are grade ?A? fighters who deserve a crack at a tremendous fighter like Manny Pacquiao.
Israel Vazquez vs. Nonito Donaire
Hello Brian. I just want you to know that I won’t let a day pass without visiting Pacland; yup, I?m a Paclander.
I’ve seen how Israel Vasquez dismantled Rafael Marquez and he really impressed me. Does Nonito Donaire stand a chance against a guy like Vasquez? Are they of the same weight? If they will lock horns, who do you think will win and why?
Thanks bro, I always read your articles (though I missed your article about the Top 15 years of boxing).
-Philip S. Sanchez
Philip,
Donaire and Vazquez are both excellent fighters. Donaire fights at 112 pounds and Vazquez at 122 pounds. So even though they are only separated by 10 pounds, that is a big difference when talking about the lower weight classes. There are two divisions in between flyweight and super bantamweight (super flyweight at 115 pounds and bantamweight at 118 pounds).
Because Vazquez would have a large edge in size and strength I would favor Israel Vazquez if these two met. However in a pound for pound match up between Nonito Donaire and Vazquez, I think that the fight would be very competitive. Donaire is still very young and I am not sure if he is in his prime physically. But he has all of the raw talent and skills to outbox a guy like Vazquez. Nonito would have to make sure that he did not become macho and try to slug with Vazquez because Israel is a tough character, the kind who only becomes more dangerous when he is hurt.
(Writer?s Note: Pacquiao fans prior to Saturday?s fight sent the next three emails, but I wanted to include them in my mailbag to get them the opportunity to say ?I told you so.?)
Barrera The Common Denominator
Hi Brian, the Team RSR Fight Picks for Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Manny Pacquiao was a nice and interesting read. The respected RSR writers tally was Pacquiao=11; whilst, Marquez=4.
I’m a Pac fan, I do agree with some of your thoughts. Even though I am a Pacfan, in the first fight, in my view, I saw that Marquez did a convincing effort to get the draw. I also think that in the first fight, even though Pacman decked Marquez 3 times, I can see how Marquez deserved to win. He schooled Pacquiao from round 4 onwards.
But, this time around, it’s a different game, it is a totally different Pacman, more ferocious and evolved. My common denominator is Marco Antonio Barrera. Based on their recent performances against Barrera I pick Pacman tearing-up Marquez in round 6. If not, it will be late KO round 10.
-Colt45
Colt45,
Pacquiao improved on his upper body movement, his poise, and his right hand landed cleanly a few times. These improvements were subtle and not quite as dramatic as some Pacquiao fans would have liked to think. Marquez was able to adapt. A master boxer and counterpuncher like JM Marquez can adapt to just about any style if he is given a few rounds to get his rhythm going.
I don?t agree with your comparison about Barrera as a common opponent. I think that both men beat Barrera decisively but going about the win in different ways. I think that Marquez? win over Barrera was as or more impressive than Pacquiao?s rematch win over Barrera. Even though Pacquiao clearly beat Barrera the second time, it was a dull fight and Manny was unable to break through with offensive strikes.
Marquez Will Meet the Canvas
With the way Manny Pacquiao prepared with 100% focus he is now a different Pacman. He has the power, speed, footwork, plus two lethal weapons the right & the dangerous left. Considering what he has done several fights after their encounter last 2004, he is more mature and a more experienced fighter so no doubt he will TKO Juan Manuel Marquez around the 5th to 8th round.
Manny is younger than Marquez, this guy has been in the boxing field a long time while Pacman is relatively young due to their ages differences. Marquez has already more wear & tear compared to Pacman.
-Siper Eye
Siper Eye,
You picked the winner correctly but Manny was not as dominant as you thought he would have been. Both men improved on their form since the first fight. The fact that Marquez came out better than he ever has been was a surprise to most since he is in his mid 30?s. At that age a boxer is supposed to be on the decline but Juan Manuel got into phenomenal shape, sharpened his technique, and executed his game plan.
Willing to Wager?
Hey bro, it seems you?re a Juan Manuel Marquez believer. Would you bet your house and lot on JMM against Pacman?
-Krimsonn Bernard
Krimsonn,
I did go on record saying that Marquez would win a decision but at no time was I very confident in my prediction. I knew that this was going to be a very close fight and one that could go either way. So to answer your question, no I would not have bet the farm on Marquez.
Based on what happened in the fight I will say that I thought my prediction was not very far off. Even though I got the winner wrong, the fight played out similar to what I said and much closer than most Pacquiao fans who thought that Manny would win with a blowout KO.
Thanks to the RSR readers for their feedback and questions. Next week I will continue on with more Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez discussion so if you would like to weigh in the fight or any other boxing related subject, then send me an email and I will include you into next week?s mailbag. I hope hear from all of you soon!
