LOS ANGELES ? The nasty cut under his right eyebrow, bruises and other laceration tell the story of what happened Saturday night in Las Vegas.
At least on two occasions during the action-packed 12-rounder, Manny Pacquiao was on the verge of being stopped by Mexican warrior Juan Manuel Marquez, who gave the Filipino hotshot a taste of hell at Mandalay Bay before yielding his World Boxing Council (WBC) super-featherweight crown on a split decision.
Pacquiao said his fighting heart spelled the difference.
“My heart won it for me. Losing or backing out of the fight never crossed my mind,” said Pacquiao, his right eye shut and his face looking as though it was ran over by a lawnmower.
The fight was so tough for Pacquiao that he admitted being troubled by the skillful Marquez, who banked on his ring generalship to frustrate his heavily-favored foe much of the way before a near-sellout crowd.
“Marquez was very tough, he gave his all and he really made it very difficult for me,” said Pacquiao, who, nonetheless, was all praises for the 34-year-old deposed champion from Mexico City.
“When I knocked him down, he immediately got up and that showed he was in superb condition,” said Pacquiao, who was awarded a split decision by the three judges at ringside.
Still, Pacquiao believes that he could have done better if only he did not sustain a cut.
“It was tough but it could not have been like that had it not been for the cut that I suffered,” he said.
“Perhaps, the fight would have not even gone 12 rounds. I relaxed a bit then I got cut and then I asked myself why I did that,” said Pacquiao, saying the blood had impaired his vision.
But he also took the blame for his failure to put Marquez away for good on a couple of occasions.
“When I knocked him down (in the third round), I suddenly felt that I could easily take him because I almost had him and he was lucky that there were less than 10 seconds remaining in that round. He was groggy because when the bell sounded, he walked towards my corner. I hit him with an uppercut and he held on to the ropes and if there was 30 seconds remaining, I would have stopped him.”
After being decked, Marquez got up, and instead of taking a backward step or covering up, he chose to trade punches and was struck anew but he held on to the ropes to prevent him from going down.
But as referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to momentarily halt the action for the one-minute break in-between rounds, Marquez went in the direction of Pacquiao?s corner before being led by Bayless to his own corner where his trainer, Nacho Beristain, was waiting to freshen him up.
“Obviously, during those moments he was dazed,” said Pacquiao, who arrived here late Sunday evening from Sin City.
Pacquiao is tentatively scheduled to fly back to the Philippines on Saturday via Philippine Airlines and should be in Manila by Monday morning.
