Manny Pacquiao, the featherweight ?People?s Champion? lived up to his billing as a legitimate sports hero on the PLDT Global pre-paid phone cards but his remarkable courage and incredible gallantry were not enough to overcome a badly swollen left hand suffered in the very first round when he decked World Boxing Association/International Boxing Federation featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez three times and a huge blister on his foot which hampered his movement in a classic war that ended in a split decision enabling Marquez to retain his crown before a wildly cheering crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, yesterday.
