There was no Fourth Battle Of The Marne. There wasn’t even a Godfather IV.
And as Saturday night became Sunday morning at the MGM Grand, Juan Manuel Marquez found it intolerable to consider a fourth meeting with Manny Pacquiao, primarily because he thought it would mean a fourth injustice.
“I was looking to see who was going to carry me around the ring,” Marquez said. “But if I knocked him down they would probably pick him back up and say he won the fight. Tonight there were only three people here who thought I didn’t win.”
Those were the judges who gave Pacquiao a majority decision, in a relentlessly fabulous fight, and raised his record in the Marquez series to 2-0-1.
HBO’s own judge, Harold Lederman, said Pacquiao won eight of the 12 rounds, which meant he and judge Glenn Trowbridge were watching the same fight. But no one knew which one.
Marquez said he was so frustrated that his instinct was to retire.
“I’m going to discuss it with my family,” the 38-year-old said. “I don’t know what it will take to beat this guy.”
Promoter Bob Arum waved it off.
