The third fight of the trilogy between Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez provided boxing fans with another classic that will go down in history. In the post fight discussions, there was much controversy between the two fighters on how they felt about the decision victory in favor of Pacquaio. Marquez, whom gave Pacquaio the most trouble anyone has seen since their last fight in 08′, felt that he was once again robbed and this time stormed out of the ring claiming that he would protest the decision. However, if you look at all the factors in Pacquaio’s favor coming into the fight, you could have clearly predicted the outcome before the decision victory for Pacquaio was actually announced. Below I have depicted five reasons why Saturday night’s decision should not have been a surprise and lessons that New York fighters can learn from when they approach a fight as either a challenger or champion.
Here are my 5 reasons:
1. Too much money on the line for a potential match up between Pacquaio and Mayweather.
Everyone knows that the fight the public wants to see is Pacquaio vs. Mayweather. If Marquez came into this fight thinking he could win even by a split decision, he should get a new management team as boxing is a business and an unfair game at the professional level. With the amount of money awaiting both fighters and their management teams on the possibility of a Pacquaio- Mayweather fight, there is no way that the business side of boxing would let that vanish for a close decision victory. Yes, it may be unfair, but we must be realistic and state the reality of the situation. Manny Pacquaio, other then Floyd Mayweather, is the draw in the boxing world and many people have a monetary stake in the star from the Philippines. Just ask yourself, if your economy currently relied on an individual would you do everything to protect that person? I suspect most people would answer yes.
2. Pacquaio came in as the defending champ and pound for pound kingpin of boxing.
In order to beat the champ in any championship fight, you must take the belt away from the champion. Marquez had his moments and was a problem for Pacquaio, but he never really had Pacquaio in serious trouble where anyone could feel that Marquez was dominating Pacquaio. In order to be the victor, as a challenger, against anyone with the type of status that Pacquaio came into the fight with you must clearly dominate the fight. If not, you will get the same conclusion that you received in this fight which was a victorious decision in the favor of the defending champion, Manny Pacquaio.
3. Marquez did not do enough in the later rounds to win the fight.
Marquez’s trainer, Nacho Beristain, definitely made a huge mistake by telling Marquez that he felt he was ahead on the scorecards and winning the fight. This took some of the edge out for Marquez to continue to do what he was doing, and press Pacquaio in the fight. Beristain is known as one of the top trainers in boxing today, but he deserves criticism on this big mistake. Never leave anything to chance especially in a big stage fight like this one.
4. Marquez claims he was already robbed twice.
The old saying goes “fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me”. This is the ideology that Marquez should have been following for this fight. Marquez, whom fought two great fights against Pacquaio, had won the majority of rounds in the previous two fights but was still left without a victory. On this fact alone, he should have come into the fight with the idea that he needed a knockout to win the fight or a clearly definitive victory that even a blind man would know he won the fight. In the pre fight interview, on HBO PPV, Beristain already proclaimed that they were not going for a knockout victory. Rather, in my opinion, a knockout should have been the mindset of Marquez’s camp from the beginning, due to the previous two decisions in which Marquez felt he was robbed.
5. Pacquaio was the aggressor.
Though, Marquez’s counter punching style has always been a problem for Pacquaio and was a problem in this fight, judges tend to favor the aggressor on the scorecards. Pacquaio, for the most part, was the one controlling the fight and coming forward. In a close fight, the judges will tend to give the fight to the fighter whom is judged to be the aggressor in the fight, which in this case was Pacquaio. Yes, Marquez’s style was effective, but in a close fight his style could work against him on the judges’ scorecards.
To conclude, anyone could argue in favor of either fighter winning the fight or a draw. However, when you look at all the advantages that Pacquaio came into the fight with, it was obvious to see who would come out the victor in the end. Marquez, whom proclaims he was already robbed in the previous two fights by the judges, should have come into the fight knowing this and with the mindset that he needed a knockout to win the fight as anything less would leave it up to chance and he already saw the outcome when that occurred. For all New York fighters, there is a clear lesson to be learned from this fight, which is that when you approach a fight as either a challenger or champion you should know the battlefield before you enter the battle. If so, you will have a higher probability of coming out the victor. In this case, it seems Marquez did not clearly know the entirety of the battle he was in inside and outside of the ring.