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How We Got Here
The madness all started in 2004 when Pacquiao and Marquez duked it out for 12 rounds. It was a modern classic. That night in the MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada the judges deliberated and the verdict of the featherweight matchup was passed down; a draw.
It was one of the most intense fights in modern history, and with such a controversial outcome everybody knew what had to happen next, a rematch!
The inevitable rematch came to fruition four years later, this time in Mandalay Bay. The fight was similar to the first, a real Rocky esque slugfest.
This one, too, came down to the wire. It lasted 12 rounds, and again it was up to the judges, who ultimately declared Manny Pacquiao the winner.
Chaos ensued.
Marquez's faithful followers declared the score a hoax and maintained that Marquez was the winner and tension between the two fighters grew, and tensions between their respective fan bases grew at twice theat rate.
Naturally there had to be another rematch.
It finally came on November 12, 2011, amidst the prolific press coverage and wild speculation that Pacquiao would knock out Marquez. The bout was once again held in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the atmosphere was one of extreme competition and even disdain.
The event's started with 3 different national anthems, a diverse tapestry representative of the diverging fan bases. This wasn't just a battle between two boxers, it was a culture war. It was the epitome of America's entertainment paradigm, watching a warrior from the Philippines fight a warrior from Mexico.
The crowd was raucous from the start, throughout the fight as Marquez counterpunched Pacquiao you could hear them chanting back and forth. The first few rounds were slow, each fighter was trying to get his bearings, but by round four it had turned into the street fight the spectators had clamored for. The punches started flying, Pacquiao throwing his lightning quick jabs and combinations and Marquez countering seamlessly making solid contact throughout the fight. To the casual observer it looked like Marquez was landing fewer hits, but the ones he landed were more solid hits. Pacquiao landed more jabs though, and in the final rounds threw some good combinations that upped the anti.
It was going to come down to the judges again.
This time there was no split decision, Pacquiao won by majority. Marquez and his team stormed out of the ring. In a interview after the match Marquez's team declared they'd been bamboozled and that Pacquiao's victory was unwarrented.
The scene was a volatile one. Marquez fans were angry and began throwing drinks towards the ring. The anger slowly died down and the fans finally filtered out of the arena. It was a wild night, Marquez had clearly been robbed, or had he?
The fight statistics tell us Pacquiao threw more punches. He also landed more punches. He was also, for the most part, the more aggressive fighter. However, many feel Marquez won most of the exchanges between the two fighters. Due to Marquez's counterpunch style he rarely attacked Pacquiao. In the end that was enough for the judges to give the victory to Pacquiao.
In hindsight you have to give the judges credit for consistency. In the trilogy there's one thing that's never happened, Marquez has never won. It's becoming obvious to the spectators that if Marquez ever wants to win he's going to have ditch his counterpunch style, at least for a few rounds, and really go after Manny.
Of course the only way he could do that would be if there was, I don't know, a rematch?
Landon Rogers - Landon Rogers is a blogger, author, musician and public figure. He is known for his iconoclast misanthropy and his prolific defiance of ...
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