In a gripping fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao fought long and hard until the 12th round where he won via majority decision against Marquez, retaining his welterweight title.
A surprised Pacquiao was declared the victor after two judges found him with more points against Marquez, while the third judge found it to be a draw. Though Pacquiao was the victor, the victory was deemed as a very narrow escape for the boxer as he took in a lot of punishment from Marquez over the 12 rounds.
The said fight was the third time the two boxers met, and was just as close as the last time the two met. In fact, even up to the last round, the outcome of the match was still in doubt. Over the 12 rounds, Pacquiao clearly fought some of the rounds with pure energy and aggressions, whereas Marquez was also able to win rounds with his excellent counterpunching which kept Pacquiao at bay.
Marquez was pretty much the 7-1 underdog, but throughout the match, he was able to slow down Pacquiao with correctly placed punches almost every single time that Pacquiao tried to get in. All he did was throw on a flurry of jabs that landed throughout the fight.
Before the fight between the two boxers started, a 10-count memorial was rung as a tribute to the legendary Joe Frazier who passed away a couple of days ago. During the first round, both players were shown to be observing each other and as punches were thrown, Pacquiao was able to win the round by the time the bell rang.
Over the course of the 12-round fight, both boxers battled it on and Marquez was able to win a number of rounds, while Pacquiao had his share of victories as well.
By the match, Marquez lifted his hands after his excellent conquest, while a rather defeated looking Pacquiao headed over to his corner and knelt down to pray. However, when the results came with two judges favoring Pacquiao at 115-113 and 116-112, while the third judge had it at 114-114, Marquez soon stormed out of the ring.
According to Marquez, “I got robbed… I don’t know what else I can do to win.”
Some of the audience soon started booing when the decision was announced, while some threw cans and bottles towards the ringside. When asked about the crowd’s reaction, Pacquiao said, “Of course they’re unhappy, they’re fans of Marquez… But I clearly won the fight.”
The rather unpopular victory of Pacquiao has prompted promoter Bob Arum to settle the score between the two fighters. Arum said, “I am bound and determined to find a definitive winner… Once and for all. If both fighters agree, I’d like to do the rematch in May 2012.”
According to Pacquiao, “I blocked a lot of his punches. His head butts hurt me… Yes, I want to give him a rematch. Let’s get it on. Let’s make this fight happen.”
