THE controversial end to the fight Sunday between Filipino champion Manny Pacquiao and challenger Juan Manuel Marquez has turned many into instant boxing analysts or experts.
Nini B. Cabaero
Beyond 30
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Even before the judges? decision was out, those viewing the live coverage had their own critique of Pacquiao?s performance. The immediate and overwhelming reaction was that Pacquiao lost or at least the fight was a draw between the two boxing greats.
When the Pacquiao victory by majority decision was announced, many disagreed and booed. Some were disappointed Pacquiao was not able to knock down Marquez; others felt shortchanged after Pacquiao?s earlier promise of an exciting fight. Mid-way in the fight, there were those who felt the ring encounter was boring, with Pacquiao?s punches missing the target and Marquez pedaling backwards but showing more accurate hits.
Each viewer had an opinion on the judges? ruling.
The Sun.Star website asked people to write on a message board what they thought of the decision. The posts came fast. (View replies at http://blogs.sunstar.com.ph/pacman/)
Reader Junrexion wrote, ?Pacquiao won the bout but Marquez won the fight. Manny won it in the sense and terms with boxing (inside the ring)…but for the fight in technical terms, Marquez had it. It?s as if they were fighting for their lives and Marquez could have killed Pacquiao. I?m not comfortable with such alibi that Manny threw more punches. It does not mean anything if the punches couldn?t affect your opponent. Marquez, on the other hand, landed the more obvious and more solid punches.?
Another reader, Robb2000af, said, ?Pacman has the belt and to win it you must be dominant, and Marquez put on a good fight but he did not dominate Pacman. If this were a non-title fight, maybe the judges would have scored it differently.?
To this, a reader answered, ?It should not be judged that way. A fight is a fight.
Statures shouldn’t affect the performances and the decisions for it. So you mean to say if punches were ranked from 1-10 and a challenger delivers a heavy one you will rate him a 5 since he is just a challenger and if the champion delivers a jab with less effect you will rate him a 9 or 10? A fight should be treated as it is.?
There were those in the online discussion who explained, so the public could understand, the 10-point scoring system in boxing in which the challenger had to be the aggressor. In the fight last Sunday, Pacquiao came out as the aggressor as Marquez?s punches were mostly to counter the Filipino boxer?s attempts to hit him.
To lay people or wannabe boxing experts, it was more on who threw the most number of punches and whose head snapped back several times from an uppercut. Pacquiao also did not deliver on his promise of an exciting fight because, to them, there was no knockout, there were no machine gun-like punches ala Fernando Poe Jr. in the movies.
With the different perspectives coming out in media from the ?real? boxing experts, the harsh criticism against the majority decision win of Pacquiao is starting to taper off with more people being exposed to the boxing scoring system.
A positive outcome to this is that at least the Filipinos are learning more about boxing rules beyond the audience favorite of a knockout finish.
