Some Filipino fans disappointed with Pacquiao game, think Marquez won

MANILA, Philippines—Moments before the victory of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao was announced, some in the crowd watching the live telecast of the fight stood up and were about to leave the Mandaluyong city gymnasium, thinking the Mexican had defeated their champion.

“Talo si Pacquiao para sa akin. Kita mo naman laro ni Marquez, halos lahat ng round sa kaniya (For me, Pacquiao lost to Marquez. It was obvious that Marquez edged him in almost every round),” Niel Pagaduan, a 51-year-old seaman told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Pagaduan said that while he has always been rooting for Pacquiao, he had doubts about his victory this time.

“He was not as sharp and strong as he was in the previous fights,” Pagaduan said, adding that the judges might have merely favored the pound-for-pound king because he was the title holder.

But when it was announced that Pacquiao won the match, he felt happy just the same as he was a “Pacquiao fan no matter what.”

Other fans also shared Pagaduan’s sentiment. Niño Picazo, a security officer at the Mandaluyong city hall, was honest to say that “Pacquiao doesn’t deserve to win.”

He even called Pacquiao’s winning “luto,” a Filipino slang for rigged.

“It was not like his previous games where he really fought hard. He was like an amateur earlier,” Picazo said.

Miguel Galvez, 58, a hotel employee, thought differently, saying the fight between Pacquiao and Marquez was so close that it was only right for the judges to favor the previous champion.

“Pacquiao was the real winner. Marquez had to knock him down in at least one round to defeat him,” he said.

The Mandaluyong City Gymnasium, where the city government has been regularly holding free telecasts of Pacquiao fights, was already full to the brim at least two hours before the fight began on Sunday noon.

Men and women with their children in tow filled the gym, constantly fanning themselves with whatever they had to endure the unusual November heat.

Keith Flores, a 12-year-old boxing fan, however, went to watch the match alone. “I want to watch it live. There are a lot of commercials on (free) TV,” he said.

He added that he left his family behind, which preferred to watch the late telecast at home.

In Manila

That Manny Pacquiao won his match with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez on Sunday drew cheers from the paying audience in Manila—but also some raised eyebrows.

“I have been a fan of Pacquiao ever since, but Marquez should have won this. If you judge it by points, he clearly had better and more hits,” noted Romy Borras, a Kamuning resident who watched the live satellite screening at the SM City Manila cinemas.

“The fight was worth paying for but I’m disgusted by the decision,” he said. “This is bound to be controversial. The turnout seemed ‘luto’ (pre-determined). I’m sure that opinion will be shared by audiences globally.”

The assessment that the Mexican fighter did the better job seemed to have been shared by a large chunk of the Manila audience.

A group of male friends who sat on the front row walked out immediately after the 12th and last round, not bothering to wait for the results because they assumed, among themselves: “Wala na (This is hopeless). Talo na si Manny! (Manny lost!)”

While the audience still jumped to their feet in jubilation and cheered over Pacquiao’s victory when it was announced, a chuckling man leaving the theater told his companions: “Wawa naman si Marquez (Poor Marquez). Luto! Dapat draw man lang! (It should have been at least a draw.)”

During the course of the fight, there were more terse silences, murmurs of concern, and disappointed clucking of tongues in the theater, rather than the consecutive shouts of joy and enthusiastic applause that usually attended Pacquiao’s successful fights.

There were also more exclamations of “Tinamaan si Manny! (Manny got hit!)” rather than the usual “Ayun!” (There!) whenever Pacquiao would land punches.

But of course, it would seem Pacquiao loyalists made up majority of the theater audience. “Manny clearly deserved to win. It only looked like he didn’t land many punches because he was fast,” defended Marino Macababat, vacationing from Cebu with his wife.

So high were expectations Pacquiao would clearly win that another vacationer from Cotabato city, Rams Agar, had even bet P10,000 that Marquez would be knocked out by the fifth round.

Even he, however, noted that based on previous fights, Pacquiao “had difficulty” beating Marquez.

Regardless of who was the better fighter, most of the audience felt disappointed at what they deemed a tepid fight because the boxers were often “distant each other,” some male audiences members noted.

Most of the audience felt disappointed that there wasn’t much contact or action, or at least a clear victory for Pacquiao, said Borra’s wife.

“It wasn’t a good fight. Even [Pacquiao’s wife] Jinkee seemed surprised at the results,” Borra’s wife was overheard telling her friends, to which one of the women replied: “Well, that’s what happens when couples fight. I heard they [Pacquiao and Jinkee] were fighting before the match.”

SM City Manila aired lived screenings of the fight in at least three cinemas. Security guards noted that there were more viewers than usual during Sunday’s fight, as compared with previous Pacquiao matches, although the ticket price, at P550, remained the same.