LAS VEGAS ? It was a shot that shocked the world: a short, crisp and crushing right hand that Juan Manuel Marquez unloaded and exploded on Manny Pacquiao?s jaw.
The Filipino icon crumpled and fell face down from the blow and lay on the canvas, twitching for what seemed to be an eternity.
?A perfect punch,? said Marquez.
The end for the pound-for-pound king came in the final second of the sixth round at the MGM Grand as Marquez finally had his moment.
After nearly eight years of chasing the Filipino champ and tirelessly repeating that he had won all their three previous fights, the Mexican counter-puncher unleashed the ruthless right to prove he was right.
It was six explosive rounds as the archrivals mixed it up right from the opening bell ? each with a personal, yet common mission ? a long-overdue vindication.Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Until the knockout came, it was a close, torrid fight with Pacquiao wresting a one-point edge as he attacked and pursued Marquez after he suffered a third round knockdown and getting back the points with a knockdown of his own in the fifth.
It was Pacquiao?s show from the start as he tried to establish control, hoping for a decisive end in an attempt to silence the critics and put to rest talks that he was favored by the judges in their earlier showdowns.
Ironically, so did Marquez.
But the Mexican, who floored Pacquiao with a sweeping right hand in the third round, also went down in the fifth, from Pacquiao?s left. He was in trouble, bleeding heavily from the nose.
But as the sixth round was about to end, the 39-year-old Mexican won an exchange right in front of Pacquiao?s corner. He hit Pacquiao with a perfect right straight.
It was an arrow that raced across the Pacific and into the hearts of the Filipinos still reeling from a deadly typhoon that claimed the lives of several hundreds.
For Pacquiao fans, it was tearjerker.
Pacquiao fell like a log, face first, right in front of his promoter, Bob Arum, who quickly reacted like he wanted to touch Pacquiao?s face and hold him like his own son.
Arum turned 81 the day of the fight. It was not the gift he had wanted.
The Filipino boxer, once the most fearsome man inside the ring, didn?t know what hit him. Even as he was falling down, it was already clear he wasn?t going to get up.
Pacquiao?s wife, Jinkee, went hysterical seeing Pacquiao down and out for the first time in many, many years. The last time he lost by knockout was 13 years ago.
In that fleeting moment, many bad thoughts must have crossed her mind.
Arum tried to console the boxer?s wife who just said the other day that ?everything happens for a reason.? Still, this one will be a hard to comprehend.
Nobody saw this coming, perhaps except for Marquez.
?I knew Manny was going to knock me out any time. But I caught him with the perfect punch,? said Marquez, finally a winner against his bitter and longtime rival.
Marquez drew with Pacquiao in 2004 then lost razor-sharp decisions in 2008 and 2011. He blamed the judges for both losses and prayed that on this fight they will call it fair.
But the Mexican made sure there was no need for the scorecards.
?This is justice for us,? Marquez said during the post-fight press conference. He had to leave early to have a possibly broken nose checked.
?I?m very happy. I?m so, so happy,? he said after the non-title welterweight contest.
All the hard work, all muscles he put on during training paid off.
?This is not a victory for me but for the entire country of Mexico,? added Marquez, who even led the singing of the birthday song for the Top Rank chief.
Marquez smiled when he was told that people were dancing in the streets of Mexico.
Pacquiao lay motionless on the canvas for nearly a minute, but to his family members at ringside, his corner and his millions of fans, it seemed like forever.
Referee Kenny Bayless did not bother to count.
Marquez glanced at Pacquiao then started to celebrate together with all the Latinos that were part of the crowd of 16,348. It got loud and noisy inside the arena.
He rode the shoulders of his cornerman, pumping his fists into the air.
Pacquiao fans were muted. They couldn?t believe what they saw. It was a terrible nightmare.
A ring doctor who checked on Pacquiao as he was down said there was too much commotion inside the ring with too much pushing and shoving. He couldn?t hear a thing.
He said he checked Pacquiao?s pulse by the neck, and right there he knew it wasn?t that bad. Pacquiao was up on his feet shortly after and tried hard to look normal.
Pacquiao managed to put up a smile. But it was a sad smile, and perhaps in the eyes of his millions of fans, he will never be the same again.
?I never expected that punch. He gave me a good shot,? said Pacquiao on top of the ring.
Pacquiao, who will turn 34 on Dec. 17, took his second straight loss following controversial one against Tim Bradley last June.
?That?s boxing. Sometimes we get hit. I started to get over-confident. I never expected that shot,? said Pacquiao who was taken straight to the hospital right after the fight.
Pacquiao, who skipped the post-fight press conference, had to undergo a safety check and precautionary tests just to make sure the worst it over.
Nobody knows when Pacquiao would fight next or if he would continue fighting.He can retire if he wants to and devote all his time to politics and religion.
?It will all depend on how he feels in the coming days,? said his trainer, Freddie Roach, who had to take all the questions from the press after the fight.
He offered no excuses.
?It was a great knockout,? said Roach.?No excuses. Marquez won the fight.?
It was clear as day.
