Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez – A Look Back
By Boxing Writer Jon Campbell
On the 12th of November last year (2011) we saw the third segment of an epic trilogy of contests between P4P king Manny Pacquiao and undoubtedly one of Mexico’s greatest talents ever, Juan Manuel Marquez. Once again it proved to be an affair which triggered much more discussion than the average boxing match, as did the previous two. The trilogy in general has been equally as controversial as it has been both historical and enjoyable. The main area of controversy surrounding the three fights has been regarding the decisions, as all three have been thrilling twelve-rounder. Each fight following its aftermath had a significant section of people who disagreed with the result on the scorecards.
Marquez, himself, strongly believes he done enough to win all three fights, and some would agree, others would give differing combinations of results they saw the three fights go, but nonetheless the majority saw Marquez winning at least one. I’m sure that some will believe the decisions of the fights went as scored by them, but it is safe to say this group is smaller than the group who do not.
What is certain is that Marquez tactically is very capable of defeating Pacquiao over a period of twelve rounds, whether he has done this in the three opportunities he has had is a different matter of discourse. Moreover, all three of these fights are close enough to have gone either way, in the genuine sense of the expression.
The first fight occurred at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in May 2004. Both appeared on the cusp of greatness, Pacquiao had already earned his superstar status amongst the Pilipino population. Both fighters entered with world titles of some sort: Marquez was defending his WBA & IBF titles, whilst Pacquiao was the current ‘The Ring’ and Lineal champion at Featherweight. No titles changed hands and both fighters left with what they held as the fight ended in a draw. This was surprising considering that Pacquiao put Marquez down three times in the very first round; the first two were quite trivial but Marquez certainly shown heart for getting up after the third as it was a good blow which caused it, also Pacquiao unfairly hit him whilst down.
Nevertheless the fight continued and it was quite clear to me and the judges evidently, that the boxing post-round one was won by Marquez. His counter-punching and odd spontaneous combination when the action lulled clearly kept Manny’s aggression at bay for the most part. Although Pacquiao did put enough effective aggression on Marquez in some rounds, and in doing so landing a decent amount of punches, he appeared to lack rhythm at some stages and could not settle. I had Marquez winning most of the middle rounds, and ending well also due to this. I scored the bout 113-112 Marquez, meaning excluding the first round Marquez certainly won the boxing on the night.
Interestingly one of the judges who had it a draw had made an error in scoring the first round a 10-7 as opposed to 10-6, had it have been scored correctly the fight would have gone in Marquez’s favor. In this event I am surprised that a rematch was not immediately called, not only because of the error but the fact it was a draw usually would presuppose a rematch. Moreover, the fight is a money-generator and a very exciting affair.
The second fight was staged at the Mandalay Bay, a massively overdue four years later. By this stage both were
Beyond the world-title level and in the elite-class of fighter’s external of each other, Pacquiao had featured in an equally legendary trilogy against Eric Morales, winning 2-1. Also, winning a rematch against Marco Antonio Barrera, and impressive KO’s over Larios, Velaquez and Solis, He had not reached the level of ridiculous superstardom he now has, but he was firmly established as the ‘mexicutioner’ and was arguably P4P #1.
Marquez had also climbed up the ladder, despite losing his title to Chris John of Indonesia, he had won an interim title at Featherweight, also moved up to Super Featherweight, winning the WBC title against Marco Antonio Barrera and was safely out of the shadow of his fellow Mexican legends. Also with impressive wins including Juarez, Salido and Polo. He also was in the P4P. I would say that the first fight catapulted Marquez’s career more so than Pacquiao’s as it exposed his greatness, whereas Pacquiao’s simply progressed it its natural course.
The fight featured the same general themes, firstly, I also had Marquez winning a lot of the middle rounds and the last couple, were Pacquiao never really had a string of round besides the fast-start and a couple towards the end. The action was also very similar; both fighters were entrenched in their respected styles. If I could offer one difference I noticed it would be that Marquez in some rounds slightly abandoned his style and was drawn into fighting-mode by Pacquiao. The result, another very close fight, ending in a SD for Pacquiao. I, like in the first, scored it one point in Marquez’s favor, 114-113, this would have Marquez winning by two points had he not been knocked down in the 3rd. Marquez again felt hard done by and many agreed with him, but although I do score it in his favor I struggle to see why Marquez was such a clear victory to render the decision a robbery.
The third fight to the trilogy occurred before a packed to the brim MGM Grand; this was a massively exciting affair and was more eagerly anticipated than the prior engagement. Both by this stage were late in their careers and both had remained highly-ranked on the P4P list.
Pacquiao had since the second fight achieved such ridiculous success which is completely unmatched in any era, by moving up in weight and dominating much larger men. Notable achievements include the tremendous KO of Ricky Hatton to win the lineal championship in four weight classes. Also his defeat of Margarito earned him the WBC Light-Middleweight title, which gave him world titles in 8 different weight classes. The record-breaking career however was slightly haunted by the ghost of Marquez, who clearly stands out as the opponent he struggled with. This alongside the large public opinion in favor of the fight is what lead to the third fight happening.
Marquez in between the second and third fights had progressed his career to that of a certain hall of famer who will be remembered for generations to come, besides his loss to the much bigger and more skillful Mayweather, he has an impressive double over much younger and stronger Juan Diaz, a stoppage over Casamayor and a great display against Aussie brawler Michael Katsidis.
During the action it was clear that Roach had really done a great job with Pacquiao, as his skills had improved dramatically. His armory of shots has increased and his footwork is now amongst the best in the world. However, it was clear as the fight progressed that Marquez still had Pacquiao in his back pocket, similarly to the previous fights. The difference is that although Marquez’s counter-punching was very effective and his right hand was on target as per usual, the aggression by Pacquiao seemed to win exchanges and he pressed Marquez slightly better, which edged certain close rounds which appeared to prove decisive.
The result gave another close SD to Manny, the only decision out of the three I agree with as I had it 115-113 in his favor. This result suffered tremendous backlash of the media and many fans alike. Although I do sympathize with such opinion, the idea that Marquez was ‘robbed’ is a bit fresh considering how close the fight was. Also the punch stats were clearly in Manny’s favor. I understand that this alone does not with the fight it would be very difficult for someone to be robbed on a decision with such stats, certainly not in this fight were the rounds were close.
To conclude, this trilogy is one I will speak of for many years and are glad to have lived through. The effort these two fighters have given throughout the 36 rounds and their careers is truly commendable and I hope I could later produce an article discussing a fourth fight within a year or two, as this is unlikely it certainly is not impossible.
People in having their opinions on who won and arguing against the decision in this case really does erode the sports and the greatness of these two athletes, it may sound cheesy but they are both certainly winners in my opinion. The two styles were so perfectly matched and their wills so deep that the contests were tremendously close, and any decision would be disputed by some. We should not dwell on this as it does both fighters injustice down the line when in 50 years to come these fights are not remembered for their greatness but their controversy.
Do we really want fans in the future to still be debating this, as opposed to were the trilogy ranks in history for example?
FACEBOOK RealCombatMediaCOM
Follow Real Combat Media Boxing on TWITTER @REALCOMBATMEDIA
Add us to your circle on GOOGLE PLUS Real Combat Media.
ENJOY & SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EXCLUSIVE FIGHTER INTERVIEWS ON REAL COMBAT MEDIA YOU TUBE
JOIN OUR BOXING & MMA DISCUSSION FORUMS : REAL COMBAT MEDIA
COMMENTS
English