Marquez camp cries robbery as Pacquiao awarded another narrow victory

By scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 114-114, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao 54-3-2 (38 KO’s) of General Santos City, Philippines would once again be awarded the decision in a close bout over Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez 53-6-1 (39 KO’s) of Mexico City, Mexico at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada last night to retain his WBO welterweight title. And even though it appeared that the Mexican warrior would yet again land the visibly more effective shots over the course of twelve rounds, as he had done in their previous encounters, to have been awarded the win over the Filipino icon in this their third meeting, victory would yet again elude Marquez, who would once more come up short on the scorecards in a majority decision loss. This drew the ire of the frustrated Juan Manuel, who immediately seeking refuge in the dressing room upon the rendering of another disappointing verdict, flatly stated, “this is the second robbery,” and, “I connected with the better punches.” Marquez’ Hall of Fame trainer, “Nacho” Beristain, would echo these very sentiments stating, “this is a robbery of the utmost.”

“this is a robbery of the utmost.” -Nacho Beristain

In action that was quite reminiscent of their previous battles, although less consistent with pockets of inactivity here and there, no knockdowns were suffered by either man. And despite the fact that the “Pacman” has steadily improved since his last outing against Mexican arch rival Marquez, and that the pound-for-pound king would in this instance hand Marquez a most decisive defeat as the heavy favorite, this would not be the case at all. For not only would the style of Juan Manuel once again prove to be totally competitive, but “Dinamita” Marquez would elude any significant shots by Pacquiao, utilizing excellent head movement and footwork, while delivering the more solid blows to in my view win the majority of rounds which should have garnered the Mexican warrior the victory. Contrary to my opinion and that of others, Pacquiao, who could faintly be heard amongst the cascade of boo’s that would rain almost endlessly during his post fight comments would state, “it’s very clear I won the fight.” And even though it was mainly a Mexican contingent voicing their displeasure at the moment the final verdict was rendered, there are already polls out indicating that a significant majority of observers outside the arena also thought that Marquez had did enough to win.

Manny looked to be at his least effective in this confrontation between himself and Juan Manuel, perhaps ironically due to the Filipino’ marked improvement. For example, Manny doesn’t lunge into his shots or over reach as he once did, resulting in better balance and less risky behavior exhibited on his part. Consequently, the Filipino fighter is quite less reckless than he has been in past bouts with Marquez, which is precisely why the challenging Mexican fighter was able to seemingly be in better control this time out, as Pacquiao is more effective against Juan Manuel when he is less settled, in which instance Manny is far less predictable and therefore much more effective in getting to Marquez to land the big shots, which have previously proven to be of significance as it relates to the judges final scorecard tallies. Not the case in this outing, as Marquez would avoid significant damage while for the most part getting the better Manny in the exchanges, landing a variety of shots in a excellent display of timing and precision counter punching.

In awarding Manny Pacquiao a close decision victory over Marquez once again, which I disagree with in this instance, as well as in their first encounter after Marquez got off the deck three times in the first round from then on to land the more effective shots over the course of action, it could be rationalized in this way; Manny would come forward as the overall busier fighter who would throw the higher volume of punches, although the less effective shots; the champion has to have his title taken away from him and Marquez didn’t convincingly do that in many of the rounds, as trainer “Nacho” Beristain, perhaps in giving some less than worthy advice, told Marquez he was ahead, which may have caused Marquez to mistakenly not press the action in a close bout; the Filipino superstar stepped it up in the championship rounds to pull out a narrow victory, whereas Marquez seemed to disengage his rival; the face of Marquez created the impression that he lost the bout, looking the worse for wear as compared to Pacquiao, who’s face was cut rather the result of an accidental head butt; and lastly, because Marquez wasn’t competitive at all against Floyd Mayweather Jr., a decision awarded to the Filipino fighter would therefore preserve a much anticipated future Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, as Manny is perceivably the more marketable fighter.

Other than these above scenarios, of which many are quite plausible, the large majority of observers seem to think that Juan Manuel Marquez did enough to win, as do I. It seems that these two fistic marvels are so evenly matched, and that Marquez is the less marketable of the two fighters as far as concerns making consistent mega fights, as well as regards delivering the huge sales numbers that go along with a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao matchup, that for Juan Manuel to finally obtain a much sought after victory over the “Pacman”, he would need to either score multiple knockdowns, or a knockout, taking the decision out of the hands of the judges who can’t seem to find a way to give Marquez the nod over his arch rival. Who knows if “Dinamita” will ever get that chance again, or would even want another opportunity, due not only to his deep seated and bitter frustration, but to the fact that the aging veteran is hinting at possible retirement, perhaps an indication that we may have seen the last of a prideful warrior, who’s ring exploits are destined to land him in the Boxing Hall of Fame.