Numerous blogs, tweets for Marquez
FRUSTRATED Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez walks out of the ring after being defeated by Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines during a WBO welterweight title fight Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in Las Vegas. Marquez said he was thinking or retiring from boxing after the frustration of another defeat that felt like victory until the judges' verdict was announced. AP PHOTO/JULIE JACOBSON
Boxing has always been rich in controversy. Add Sunday’s third fight between the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao and Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez to the list of controversial bouts.
Pacquiao won by a majority decision on the judges’ scorecards, retaining his World Boxing Organization welterweight title. The judges’ scores: 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113.
After the last round, Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Graham gave Pacquiao and Marquez six rounds each in his live blog.
Graham said before the decision was announced: “Marquez raises a fist to the fans … and is carried around the ring. Pacquiao moves confidently back to his corner. I think we’re looking at another draw.”
After the announcement, he said: “Feel badly for Marquez since his effort was nothing short of heroic, particularly given the dismal expectations many had for him, but the fight was awfully close.”
“Maybe now he’ll wear a shirt saying ‘MARQUEZ BEAT PACQUIAO THREE TIMES!!!’” Graham added before signing out.
Difficult to score
Saying it was a close fight, Wall Street Journal’s Gordon Marino thought Marquez had edged out Pacquiao. “I have it as an upset: Marquez, 10-9 (in the 12th round). We’ll see what the judges think. It’s up to them,” Marino said in his live blog.
“Though there were many difficult rounds to score in this fight, Marquez certainly seems to have won,” Marino wrote.
He said: “It seemed as though Pacquiao barely landed a really significant blow.” He added: “Manny just couldn’t get on track tonight. He barely landed a right hook, and his famous left was often short of its target.”
“There are a lot of people who scored it a draw. Right now, it’s hard to predict how this bout will affect the landscape of boxing. We were all looking for something decisive here but got just the opposite,” Marino said.
Just a round for Manny
USA Today’s boxing editor Bob Velin also thought Marquez won: “Marquez looking as strong in the 12th as in the first … I give the fight to Marquez 7-5.”
For Fox sports editor Will Cooling, Pacquiao only won the first round, while the other 11 rounds belonged to Marquez.
“An absolute clinic from Marquez on my scorecard. I have it 118-110 to Marquez. Even Pacquiao’s training partner Amir Khan has Marquez as the victor,” Cooling wrote.
“Incredibly, Marquez is the one on the offense, with Pacquiao unable to put together the offense and blast out Marquez as he needs to,” Cooling said.
He said he disagreed “completely” with the judges’ verdict, calling it “a disgusting call.”
‘Not the same Pacquiao’
ESPN boxing writer and commentator Dan Rafael tweeted at @danrafaelespn, “Don’t know about 116-112, but I can live with the decision.”
Newsday sportswriter Marcus Henry posed a thought-provoking question in his Twitter account, @marchenrysports: “After that performance you have to wonder about Pacquiao. How many more great fights does he have in him?”
“This is not the same Pacquiao who beat Cotto, Margarito, Clottey, Hatton and De La Hoya,” Henry said.
Online users trooped to the Web with clashing views on the match.
Retired champion Oscar De La Hoya, whom Pacquiao beat in 2008, said on Twitter: “Pacquiao cannot compete with a counterpuncher like Marquez. Juan has the patience to wait and capitalize on mistakes.”
“I’m still sitting on my couch in disbelief,” De La Hoya added.
Not good for boxing
User Myles_Jamito wrote: “I am a Pacquiao fan but I don’t believe he won this time. You can see from his face that he’s not happy, even if he won.”
“I am a huge Pacquiao fan but that decision serves neither him or Boxing well—rematch or not,” user TheRealBozza said.
“I congratulate Pacquiao for a good fight and win. But I think Marquez did extremely well and he should have won,” tweeted beauty queen Karla Henry.
The result did not matter to user myfavoritealias: “Win or lose, I’m proud to be Team Pacquiao.”
“The judges saw it in favor of Pacquiao. They may have seen something else up front that we didn’t see on TV,” missgelaiE said.
“OK Pacquiao won so what’s with all the commotion? Pacquiao for life!” wrote singer and comedian Mikey Bustos.
Different issue
TV news producer Chiara Zambrano tweeted: “Pacquiao fought well. But for the first time in a long time, he looked … Mortal. Beatable. I think that’s what scared all of us.”
Another user brought the issue outside the boxing ring: “Don’t hate Pacquiao for that win. Hate him for siding with the conservatives and rallying against the RH bill,” Pimplepopper said.
Said NonSequiturRob: “Fans used to Pacquiao dominating have to realize that Marquez is the best competitor Pacman has faced so far. Great night for boxing.”
Different view
Live blogging for the Wall Street Journal, Canadian pop singer Dan Hill saw the fight differently from the others.
“Manny certainly threw far more power punches than Marquez. And Manny’s accuracy was superior. I suspect because people thought the fight would be more lopsided than it was, it affects people’s perceptions,” Hill wrote.
“If Manny squeaked through with a deserved win, when everyone was expecting greater dominance, the misleading impression is that Manny may not have deserved to win. That said, when you break it down, clearly Manny deserved to win. But just barely,” added Hill, who is set to perform in a concert with Pacquiao next week.
Hill raised the possibility that Pacquiao purposely underfought Marquez: “What he really wants is to fight Mayweather. Would Mayweather agree to fight Manny had he knocked out Marquez? Doubtful.”
“Never underestimate the intelligence and prescience of Manny,” Hill said. “But remember, I’m pretty biased here.”
“Pacman” topped the list of trending topics in Twitter Philippines.
