Following his split decision loss to Tim Bradley Saturday night, Juan Manuel Marquez insists victory should have been his.
Marquez, declaring the decision was every bit as seemingly bogus as the highly controversial verdict for Pacquiao vs Bradley last year, stated:
“I clearly won. I have been robbed six times in my career.”
The officials’ cards reflect a close fight.
Two judges scored it 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Bradley, the champion, while the third had Marquez winning 115-113.
Overall punch count statistics had Bradley landing 168 punches of 562, and Marquez 153 of 455. However, punch statistics also showed Marquez connecting on 115 power punches to Bradley’s 86.
In defense of JMM, The Associated Press, not exactly a pool of pugilistic expertise, scored the bout 115-113 Marquez. And in all fairness, his head trainer, Nacho Beristain, continually assured Marquez during the bout the latter was winning. It was poor judgment from the hall of fame trainer who obviously hadn’t learned his lesson from Pacquiao vs Marquez 3.
Nacho, once again, succedded in giving his fighter a false sense of security. But that’s another article.
In stark contrast to the Pacquiao vs Bradley aftermath, the boxing media overwhelmingly sided with the judges and Bradley this time: ESPN’s Dan Rafael, 115-113 Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, 116-112 Bad Left Hook, 115-113 HBO’s Harold Lederman, 117-111 Steve Kim, MaxBoxing: 115-113 Cliff Rold, BoxingScene: 117-111 Phil D Jay, WorldBoxingNews: 115-113 Boxing.com, 116-112 Bradley Michael Woods, The Sweet Science: 116-113 Douglas Fischer, The RING : 116-112 Adam Abramowitz, Saturday Night Boxing : 118-110 Victor M Salazar, ThaBoxingVoice: 116-112 Jake Donovan, BoxingScene: 116-112 Lem Satterfield, The RING: 118-110 Fighthype.com : 116-112 Nigel Collins, ESPN: 116-113 FightSaga: 115-113
Of 90 in the boxing media, 79 scored it for Bradley, 4 for Marquez and 7 saw a draw. To see the list in its entirety, click here.
Interestingly, some in the boxing media didn’t think it was that close, based on the scores.
Is the media pro Bradley? Keep in mind, the scores are from the same media who, in June 2012, had Pacquiao decisively beating Tim Bradley. Moreover, most in the media favored Marquez to win Saturday night so there’s clearly no bias.
Marquez, insisting he was wronged, told the formidable Radio Raheem, “Everyone knows what happened in the ring.”
In a seperate interview, Marquez stated, “To me, fans are the best judges.”
He added, “I don’t understand how the media says you need a knockout in order to win. It’s absurd.”
Marquez, who has lost four of his last six bouts that have gone the distance, echoed, “I need to be more afraid of the judges than my opponent.”
Was Marquez robbed?
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