|
|
 Pacquiao Edges Marquez in Another Classic, Wins 130-Pound Title
By Doug Fischer (March 16, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor
 Send this page to friend Give us your feedback
LAS VEGAS, March 15 – The first round of tonight’s rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez did not have any of the awesome drama of the opening stanza of their first bout, but the rest of the fight sure did.
In a thrilling, bloody and brutal 12-round exhibition of skill, speed, power and heart, Pacquiao scored a razor-thin split decision over perhaps the most formidable of his Mexican rivals, lifting Marquez’s WBC 130-pound title (as well as recognition as the world junior lightweight champion).
Judge Jerry Roth scored the instant classic 115-112 for Marquez, whose record fell to 48-4-1 (35), but judges Duane Ford and Tom Miller scored the bout for Pacquiao, now 46-3-2 (34), by respective tallies of 115-112 and 113-112.
It was the kind of intense, back-and-forth championship-level battle where a strong case could be made for either fighter winning but what turned out to be the difference in tonight’s official verdict was a third-round knockdown scored by the Filipino icon. Without that 10-8 round that Pacquiao was awarded on all three official scorecards, judge Miller would have scored the bout 113-113, and the fighters and fans would have been stuck with another split-draw, the verdict of their first encounter.
Don’t expect a third encounter. When Pacquiao was asked about the possibility of adding another 12 rounds to the legendary 24 they’ve fought, the four-division champ replied: “I don’t think so, this business is over.”
Can you blame him?
Marquez is an elite level technician, counter-puncher and stick-and-move boxer who can throw accurate, textbook combinations with maximum leverage at any moment during a fight.
Tonight, in front of 11,061 Mexican, Filipino and hardcore fight fans inside the Mandalay Bay’s Event Center, Marquez changed his various styles like a chameleon, resuming his old counter-puncher’s identity in the early going and landing stunning right-left combinations that drove his supporters wild, then pressing the action in the middle rounds in pursuit of paying Pacquiao back for dropping him in the third, and finally settling down into a stick-and-move mode that saw him land lefts to the body and power rights from the outside (one of which opened a cut next to the challenger’s right eye) down the stretch.
However, just as it was during their first encounter, Pacquiao’s blend of speed and power combined with his frenetic pace allowed him to break through Marquez’s defensive stance to land the harder punches of the fight.
It was a patented Pacquiao left cross that put Marquez down in the third round. The proud Mexican got up and initiated a series of brutal exchanges that he got the worst of, especially as he staggered along the ropes near a neutral corner.
The full fury and fire of their rivalry was ignited in the fourth round as both little warriors looked to land fight-ending shots with cold-blooded focus. However, during most of their toe-to-toe exchanges, it was Pacquiao’s speed and power that did the most damage, and by the fifth round, Marquez’s face was beginning to transform into a bloody, lumpy mask. A particularly nasty cut bled from above Marquez’s right eye throughout the contest.
The violent exchanges continued in the sixth and seventh rounds, with Pacquiao’s superior power giving him a slight edge and his improved head and upper-body movement sparing him the same facial damage Marquez suffered. However, in the eighth round, a beautifully timed right hand from the outside landed over Pacquiao’s right eye, causing the Filipino hero to wince, turn his head and blink in confusion as Mexican fans roared and Filipino fans shrieked in horror.
“I thought [Marquez] was out of the fight after the third round but when he cut my eye in the eighth round it made it more difficult for me,” Pacquiao admitted after the fight.
From the eighth round on, Marquez alternated between taking chances by lunging in with body-head combinations and then laying back on the outside and stepping to his left to avoid Pacquiao’s Sunday punch. The in-and-out aggression and boxing of Marquez matched with the explosive offensive bursts from Pacquiao made for thrilling late rounds that the fans, press row and the official judges were split on who won.
Marquez, who turns 35 later this year, felt he did enough after his knockdown and down the stretch of the bout to have retained his title, and more importantly, restore the pride of diehard Mexican fans who have watched Pacquiao burn through both Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera in the past two and half years.
“I trained for this fight with all of my heart and I still feel that I am the champ,” Marquez said afterward. “It was a bad a decision.
“The knockdown did not affect me. I adjusted after the knockdown and I thought I dictated the rest of the fight.
“I haven’t lost anything at all. The people are the best judges and they know I won.”
Marquez is partially correct.
There will no doubt be scores of fans – and not just those of Mexican descent – who believe that Marquez won tonight, just like there will be scores who think the official verdict was right on the money.
And while Marquez has lost his world title, he has not lost anything in terms of his stature in the sport.
Beginning with his epic effort against Pacquiao four years ago and culminating with tonight’s great ring battle, Marquez has evolved from just another skilled technician from Mexico City and just another faceless belt holder to being one of the most exciting fighters in the sport who is also considered to be among the sport’s elite boxers.
That respect will not change with tonight’s loss.
In the lead bout of the undercard, WBO featherweight title holder Steve Luevano got off the canvas to out-jab and out-class tough Thai challenger Terdsak Jandaeng, retaining his 126-pound belt by a unanimous decision.
The official scores of 118-109 and 119-109 (twice) were lopsided in favor of Luevano, but make no mistake, the La Puente, California native survived a stern gut check tonight.
Although Luevano, who improved to 35-1 (15), brutally battered the face of Jandaeng while winning the vast majority of rounds, the relentless challenger remained dangerous throughout the 12 rounder and the two southpaws made for an entertaining title bout.
After keeping Jandaeng at bay with his jab – while busting up the muscular and athletic brawler’s face – in the opening three stanzas, the challenger put the champ on the deck with a monster left cross in the fourth round.
Luevano beat the count, resumed working his educated jab and appeared to drop Jandaeng with a straight left just before the bell that referee Robert Byrd missed.
In the middle rounds of the bout, Luevano scored at will with his popping right jab, occasionally hooking off it. The stick-and-move strategy kept Jandaeng off balance as his face, particularly the tissue around his left eye, continued to absorb gruesome damage.
By the seventh round, Jandaeng’s battered and bloody face began to take on the look of a red gargoyle, but with his left eye is almost swollen shut the charging bull kept swinging. Unfortunately, his only quality shot landed to Luevano’s cup, drawing a warning from the referee in the eighth round.
Jandaeng continued to surge in the ninth round, forcing more exchanges whenever he manages to get past Luevano’s punishing jab. Jandaeng had his moments in the 10th round when he was able to back Luevano to the ropes, but the slick southpaw would spin out of danger with the precision of a veteran.
In the 11th round Jandaeng landed hard left that knocked Luevano’s mouthpiece halfway out of his mouth. The title holder popped it back in and resumed out-boxing the game challenger in the center of the ring. In the 12th round, both brave lefties let it hang out and traded damaging punches to the bell.
With the loss, Jandaeng’s record dropped to 29-3 (19). His only losses have come to Luevano, Juan Manuel Marquez and Joan Guzman.
In a crossroads bout scheduled for 12 rounds, bantamweight prospect Abner Mares extended his undefeated record in impressive fashion by dropping former world title challenger Diosdado Gabi three times en route to a second-round stoppage.
Mares, now 16-0 (10), landed a straight right that knocked Gabi down with about a minute left in the opening round. The normally durable Filipino veteran got up on wobbly legs, but managed to survive the Mexican Olympian’s furious follow-up barrage and make it out of the round.
However, Mares picked up right where he left off at the start of the second round, dropping Gabi with the first right cross he landed. Gabi, who failed to make the bantamweight limit and struggled just to weigh-in at 119 and half pounds Friday, was clearly out on his feet after beating referee Jay Nady’s count. Mares put the brave Filipino down with another right and after Gabi struggled to his feet and stumbled into a neutral corner Nady did the right thing and waved the contest off 49 seconds into the second round.
“He caught me with one good shot,” said a dejected Gabi, now 30-4-1 (22).
Actually, the young man landed at least 10 or 15 really good shots, but it’s true that the first right hand that dropped Gabi in the first round essentially ended the contest.
In the opening bout of the HBO Pay-Per-View broadcast, WBC lightweight title holder David Diaz got in a tough 10 rounds of work against the very game Ramon Montano, winning a majority decision in a non-title bout.
Diaz, who improved to 34-1-1 (17), won by scores of 99-91 and 97-93. The third judge gave the young spoiler credit for his spirit and work ethic, scoring the competitive bout a 95-95 draw.
Chicago’s Diaz was the aggressor in most of the hard-fought rounds and appeared to land the cleaner and harder punches throughout. However, Montano, now 15-5-2 (1), fought back gamely and never allowed Diaz to take over the bout with his mauling attack.
The two fighters went tit for tat in the in early rounds of the bout, but by the fifth round Diaz began to land hard uppercut-hook combinations and clean straight lefts, as he bulled Montano to the ropes. Montano landed his share of punches to the straight forward charging southpaw, but his shots lacked the impact of the 135-pound titlist, who is rumored to be next in line for Pacquiao.
All three judges scored rounds nine and 10 for the surging Diaz, who landed 260 of a total 665 power punches thrown (39%) according to CompuBox.
ON THE NON-TELEVISED UNDERCARD
Former amateur star and now a junior welterweight prospect Danny Garcia improved to 4-0 (4) with a one-punch first-round knockout of Charles Wade. The 19-year-old puncher from Philadelphia, missed with a right hand but followed up with a compact hook that landed right on the chin Wade, immediately freezing and dropping the North Carolina journeyman on his side where he was counted out by referee Tony Gibson. With the loss, Wade’s record falls to 4-5 (1).
Rising Filipino featherweight prospect Micahel Farenas improved to 20-2-2 (18) with a third-round technical stoppage of usually durable Mexican journeyman Baudel Cardenas. Farenas, a protégé of two-time titlist Gerry Penalosa who recently began training under Freddie Roach in Hollywood, dropped Cardenas twice in the second round with body shots that the Los Mochis native claimed were on the hip and low. In the third round, the Filipino southpaw landed a punch that was unquestionably below the beltline. Cardenas was felled by the foul punch (ruled accidental by referee Tony Weeks) and could not recover within the allotted 5-minute recovery period.
In the opening bout of the evening, Nacho Beristain-trained Esau Herrera and unbeaten former amateur standout Byron “Buddy” Tyson fought to a six-round majority draw in a junior middleweight contest. One judge scored the brisk preliminary bout 57-56 for Tyson, who suffered a questionable knockdown and whose record now stands at 9-0-2 (4), but the other two judges came up with 57-57 scores. The record of Herrera, who looked a little fleshy at 155 pounds, now stands at 15-3-1 (8). Tyson, clearly the bigger and faster of the two boxers, looked sharp when boxing behind his jab fro the outside but the Mexican fighter was able to get through a shaky opening round and land quality body shots and counter left hooks throughout the rest of the bout.
Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Doug Fischer at dougie@maxboxing.com
|
