Juan Manuel Marquez Proves Equal to Manny Pacquiao

Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao fought for the third time at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Like their first two bouts, both men gave as good as they got and neither appeared to control the action. Like the first two bouts, Pacquiao was the busier and more aggressive fighter while Marquez countered and boxed beautifully. And just like the first two bouts, a panel of American judges again confirmed our nation’s lack of appreciation for the subtler aspects of boxing

That Marquez lost a majority decision is neither shocking nor hard to explain, since Pacquiao is the sport’s biggest star and cash cow. His supporters will point to the statistics, to the greater number of punches Pacman threw and his non-stop movement from one side his foe to the other. But the HD telecast we watched showed one fighter that was clearly out his element and that man was Pacquiao. Manny’s punches were as quick and unpredictable as ever. They just failed to land. Marquez on the other hand found home with seemingly every major power shot.

Regardless of what the scorecards say, in our view Marquez did not lose this fight. Another draw may have been the most fitting result, but karma and justice would seem to dictate the Mexican receive the benefit of any doubt. Pacquiao may leave Vegas with his recent string of wins intact, but no one who knows boxing is fooled. The Filipino phenom would be wisest to continue having his handlers hand-pick his opponents, because he would stand little chance against master pugilist Floyd Mayweather.

Marquez on the other hand was understandably distraught afterward. Short of knocking Pacquiao out he appeared to do everything that was needed to secure the win. Some scribes have argued Marquez made a crucial mistake by not forcing the action in the final two rounds after hearing from trainer Nacho Beristain that he was comfortably ahead. But our guess is he could have done little to sway judge Glen Trowbridge, who scored the fight a baffling 116-112 for Pacquiao.

Like many stateside judges it appears Trowbridge would be better off judging amateur fights rather than being asked to distinguish whose punches actually land cleanly and with the greatest effect. HBO’s Howard Lederman was no better, continuing to beat his favorite dead horse by crediting Pacquiao’s ring generalship for controlling the fight. Translated for us troglodytes, Lederman is basically saying Pacquiao should win because he comes forward and releases his hands more. But last time we checked fights are scored based on effective punching and the many flush shots Marquez landed appeared to hurt Pacquiao much more than the grazing lefts landed by the Filipino.

Since expecting justice in boxing is naive, we must content ourselves by elevating Marquez’ status accordingly. He was already a Hall of Famer, but now his career must be re-considered and afforded the respect due to a man that took the sport’s highest-rated fighter to the brink three times. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Marquez is a lightweight at heart and had no business fighting above 140 lbs. He has long been featured in third-place on Stiff Jab’s unofficial pound-for-pound list, but he may have edged Pacquiao if the two return to their normal weight classes (135 and 147 respectively.)

Pacquiao’s statute on the other hand is unquestionable diminished. His backers have dismissed his two wars with Marquez recently, arguing Pacman’s domination of larger fighters like Margarito, Clottey and Cotto is proof of his growth. Those claims now bring into question just how far gone those foes were when they stepped in the ring with Manny. The matchmakers at Top Rank deserve much of the credit for Pacquiao’s history-making accomplishments since the last Marquez fight.

If Marquez can handle Pacquiao so effectively, what kind of chance would he stand against Mayweather? Floyd is every bit the talented boxer and counter-puncher JMM is, plus bigger, faster and more powerful. We’ve always maintained Floyd would school Pacquiao but now feel more certain than ever in that pronouncement. Floyd probably wouldn’t look for a knockout, but we find it hard to see him losing more than four rounds against Manny.

The irony is that despite the questionable scoring this was by far the best boxing PPV card of the year after drawing low expectations across the board. Pacquiao was supposed to dominate Marquez, which obviously didn’t happen. Tim Bradley vs. Joel Casamayor was every bit as painful and useless as expected, but the first two televised bouts were both excellent.

Texan junior welterweight Mike Alvarado found himself on the wrong side of a vicious early attack by Colombia’s Breidis Prescott, the only man to conquer Amir Khan. But Alvarado weathered the storm, including a nasty cut in his mouth that had him spitting up blood, and rallied in the middle rounds. Prescott showed more craft this fight, using his jab and short uppercuts to great effect on the inside. But he began to flag in the later rounds and Alvarado responded by dropping him with a series of knockouts in the 10th to score the stoppage.

The fact the Texan was down on all three cards at the time of the stoppage just burnished his already impressive showing. Alvarado has tremendous heart and obvious power; this win immediately catapults him to the top of the list of boxers we want to see at 140 lbs. A bout with a top contender like Bradley or Khan would be ideal, but we’re going to be watching no matter who he fights next.

Super featherweight Juan Carlos Burgos showed great skill and determination in knocking off the previously unbeaten Luis Cruz in the opening bout. Burgos opened by throwing punches in bunches and focused his attack on the body to great effect. Cruz seemed uncomfortable early but began settling in once his opponent let up on the shots downstairs.

We had the fight a little closer than most, but Burgos looked like the veteran despite being three years younger. He deserves the win in his first fight at 130 and Cruz will hopefully use the setback as a learning experience. He showed enough heart and toughness that he should be able to recover and continue his climb up the ranks without losing much ground.