Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez part III ended in a way no one wanted: in a narrow, albeit controversial, manner. As a friend, Mon Abad, put it: ?It wasn?t convincing, but Pacquiao deserved it.? I guess that, more or less, captures the sentiments of people who try to be as objective as can be without engaging in excessive Filipino flag-waving.
Odds favored Pacquiao, 7-1, on the eve of his defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title if only to highlight the tremendous edge the fighting congressman had despite the fact that the two had fought to a draw in 2004 and the second bout had Manny eking out the slimmest of victories. To top it off, Pacquiao was on a streak of 14 consecutive victories and had invaded the higher weight categories where he roundly defeated bigger and stronger opponents.
Marquez, on the other hand, had miserably fared in his attempt to invade the welterweight division losing all 12 rounds to Floyd Mayweather Jr some two years ago.
I scored Part III 116-114 in favor of Pacquiao mainly because he was busier, was the aggressor and landed more punches. Compubox statistics showed that the defending champion landed 176 out of 578 punches while Marquez connected on 138 of 436 punches. Pacquiao had the edge, 117-100, on power shots.
Marquez and Ignacio Beristain, his veteran trainer were fuming mad (and thousands of their partisans at the MGM Grand Arena and millions watching television) as Marquez?s entourage stormed out of the ring. Marquez was later quoted to have said, ?it is difficult to fight against a fighter and two judges as well.?
Marquez and his tacticians perhaps had only themselves to blame to have let this fight slip away. By some accounts, Marquez was ahead going into the last round. By their own reckoning Marquez?s corner, including Beristain, figured that going into the 12th round, Marquez was way ahead on points and only by scoring a knockout could Pacquiao steal the fight. The result was Marquez fought the last round, which I gave to Pacquiao, as if he had already won the fight.
There is talk of a fourth fight. Top Rank?s Bob Arum announced right after the fight that ?I think there?s a viable possibility they should do it again. It was so close, there were so many close rounds and it was a great fight.?
From where we sit, Pacquiao has nothing to gain, prestige-wise, from a fourth fight, especially if Marquez will continue to fight the way he has been over the last 36 rounds in their recently concluded trilogy. Pacquiao will look bad chasing Marquez who but back-pedalled most of the night. In fact, Associated Press? Dan Rafael, who called it a draw, 114-114, wrote, ?Marquez went backward all night?.
