I`ll start this article by saying that I had the luxury of watching this fight about 3 times before writing this piece and I scored it differently all 3 times. When I initially watched the fight live, I had Juan Manuel Marquez doing the unthinkable, overcoming the 9-1 odds and winning 115-113 in what I though was a brilliant effort. I thought Nacho Beristain put a great game plan together and Marquez executed it well enough to pull off the upset victory, dethroning Manny Pacquiao. Let me also state the fact that I was drinking Jack Daniels and beer throughout the night, during both the UFC heavyweight title match on the Fox network and the entire HBO pay per view event. On Sunday morning I watched the Pacquiao – Marquez main event 2 more times and then went out for the day to catch some of the NFL games at a bar. As I was out, I let my mind wander at times thinking back to the fight and how I would put into words about how the fight unfolded, and what to make of the decision.
One thing that also helped me judge or “rejudge” the fight was the picture of all three judges official scorecards that I obtained through Facebook. After seeing it, I broke down round by round what the judges were looking and scoring for each fighter. Comparing my scorecard to the official judges scorecards` actually helped clarify a few things. Judge Robert Hoyle scored the fight a draw. I think that was a fair assessment of what went down on Saturday night. Judges Dave Moretti and Glenn Trowbridge clearly didn’t like Marquez style of fighting as he moved backwards and to his left staying away from Pacquiao`s power left and countering when given the opportunity. Maybe they saw this as backpedaling or Pacquiao forcing the action as the aggressor, but I and many others saw it as Marquez luring Pacquiao into “Marquez`” type of fight. Pacquiao`s corner on several occasions told him to stop following him and start cutting off the ring by stepping to his right. When Pacquiao did this, he landed the straight left and got the correct angles to attack from by using the footwork trainer Freddie Roach talked so much about. Manny just didn’t do it enough.
I had the fight scored 4-2 in favor of Pacquiao after six rounds as did two of the three judges and so did HBO`s unofficial ringside judge Harold Lederman. To me the shape of the fight changed after round 7. The three ringside judges were only in total agreement on 6 of the12 rounds. Rounds 1,3,6 all went to Pacquiao on all three scorecards, rounds 4,5,7 all went to Marquez. Round 7 had the biggest gap of connected punches for Pacquiao (21-12), yet all three judges scored it for Marquez, as did Lederman and myself as well. The eighth round saw Marquez land more punches for the first time in the fight (13-11), yet judges Moretti and Trowbridge scored the round for Pacquiao, so did Harold Lederman. I did not. The ninth round was dead even in shots landed at 17 apiece. Pacquiao landed more power shots and was busier towards the end of the round that (in my eyes) clinched it for him. Again, Moretti, Trowbridge and Lederman also gave the round to Pacquiao.
The next two rounds might have been the toughest to score. Pacquiao suffered a cut above his right eye from an accidental head butt and was bothered by it, but Marquez failed to take advantage of it. Marquez` tentativeness may have cost him a very important round. Pacquiao landed 18 of 50 (36%) punches, while Marquez only landed 13 of 37 (35%). The welterweight average of punches landed and thrown according to Compubox is 19 of 58 (33%).
In between rounds, Marquez ` corner told him he was winning the fight. This may have been a mistake and also could have been a reason that Marquez played it careful and took his foot off the gas pedal. The eleventh round was similar to the tenth in punch output. 18 of 47 (38%) for Pac, 13 of 36 (36%) for Marquez. It showed now that Manny was dictating the pace of the fight. Marquez countered well but it may have not been enough.
So, of course it came down to the last round. If Marquez wanted to win this fight, he would have had to show the judges that he was going to take the victory and the WBO welterweight title from Pacquiao. He failed to do that. It seemed as if he believed what trainer Nacho Beristain was telling him and he just put it on cruise control. This fight was too close for that and it proved costly for Marquez. Pacquiao landed 18 of 37 (49%) to Marquez` 11 of 36 (31%). It was clear Moretti and Trowbridge were in favor of Pacquiao`s come forward, aggressive style and needed more from Marquez if they were going to award him the victory. After watching it (now 4 times), I gave Pacquiao rounds 1,3,4,6,9,12. Rounds 8-11 could have gone either way, depending on what you were looking for. You cannot judge the fight based on punches landed alone because it doesn’t tell the whole story. The seventh and eighth rounds are perfect examples of that.
Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1) fought better than anyone would have thought and deserved at least a draw. Many believe he was robbed, I`d say they have a good case for thinking that way. As for Pacquiao (54-3-2), he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn’t win in spectacular fashion, then it isn’t good enough. Think back when Michael Jordan averaged 37 points per game and sometimes scored only 25 or 30. The bulls would still win and everyone else on the team scored 15-20 pts, but Jordan looked “average” because he didn’t drop “40 or 50’. Pacquiao is held to a higher standard because of the way he has been winning over the last 3 years. Blowing people away with his speed and power is what we`ve all grown accustomed to. Another close decision win over his toughest opponent after all the chatter of ending all doubts about who is better just isn’t going to cut it for most boxing fans. It didn’t for me either.
Joey Santana can be reached via email: theboxingkidd@verizon.net
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