IN 24 rounds of fighting, Juan Manuel Marquez fell four times against Manny Pacquiao.
In 24 rounds of fighting, Manny Pacquiao never fell even just for once against Juan Manuel Marquez.
So, who would you say was the better of the two after 24 rounds of boxing?
The answer should be more than obvious: Manny Pacquiao.
But, alas, not to Juan Manuel Marquez.
To the Mexican, Pacquiao was the inferior of the two.
Yet, in 2004, Marquez kissed the canvass three times in the very first round of their first fight.
Fortunately for Marquez?and yes, give credit to his tenacity?he lasted the distance and escaped with a draw.
But, of course, that happened because one of the three judges had admitted he committed a scoring mistake.
Instead of giving Pacquiao the politically correct 10-6 score in the first round after Pacquiao had dropped Marquez three times, the judge wrote ?10-7.?
That mistake stood, becoming another crazy testament to man?s inherent capacity to create folly after another folly in boxing.
Remember that most recent boo-boo by Joe Cortez, the referee who let Floyd Mayweather Jr. run away with crime?
Mayweather had unleashed boxing?s foulest blow in recent memory and knocked out a defenseless Victor Ortiz?and we saw Cortez not lifting a finger to straighten out the mess.
In boxing, as in virtually all sporting contests, the judge?s decision?and a referee?s, too?is final and almost absolutely irreversi
