DID MANNY WIN?

For some reason, this MANNY PACQUIAO always got me back to blogging. He does not only keep me on the edge of my seat when he fights, but he always brings me back the fervor of writing.

So, did he win yesterday’s fight against MARQUEZ?

At first, I thought no. But after two replays, and a pirated DVD, thus, a careful breakdown of the fight, I am inclined to think that he did. No, not because I am his biggest fan- but I do think that he did.

I watched the fight live in the big screen in one major cinema house in Manila and like any other fight-fan who was overwhelmed by what initially transpired, I was really disappointed with his showing. I thought he was not the PACMAN of old, no sting in his punches, missed terribly on his left, and hardly no combinations. Leaving the cinema, I thought MARQUEZ should have been awarded the fight.

Alas the replays came in. I am no boxing expert but I can bet every breath in this body that I am a superb boxing fan having been enthralled into the sports for the entirety of my life. Whether you believe it or not, the fights being featured on-screen prior to PAC and JMM’s entrance, I have seen them all, ARGUELLO’s, PRYOR’s, the DURAN fights, ALI’s, FRAZIER’S, HEARNS’, HAGLER’s, LEONARD’s, and even the recent years’ fights between MORALES and BARRERA and that of CASTILLO and CORRALES, I have seen them all. I remember that straight from the airport coming from the US, I asked my driver to speed off to my house because the CASTILLO-CORRALES was about to start. I had to shell-out an extra hundred pesos for making the cab driver do that.

If you have read my previous blogs, you should know by now that “boxing” puts a stop to my world when in happens. Make two kids lace gloves and I would surely pay attention. Not to mention that I have myself laced the gloves too at some point in my life.

Fact is the fight was very close. It established nothing else about PACQUIAO’s dominance over MARQUEZ and vice-versa, they had each other’s respective numbers so to speak. So close that you could award every round either way.

I had PACQUIAO taking rounds 3, 4, 10, 11 and 12 while MARQUEZ took 2, 5,6, 7 and 8. In Round 1, the fighters were practically feeling each other out but mind you when the statistics were released PAC threw more punches than MARQUEZ, so it was safe to give the said round to our native hero. Unlike the first round 1, round 9 was action-packed with each fighter’s momentum swinging both ways, but again per statistics, the PACMAN again threw more punches and landed more. As it is, it was safe to award the said round to MANNY. That being said PACQUIAO, per my card was ahead by 2 rounds.

Here are the punch statistics:

	PACQUIAO	MARQUEZ
TOTAL PUNCHES	578	436
CONNECTED	176	138
JABS THROWN	304	182
CONNECTED	58	38
POWER PUNCHES	274	254
CONNECTED	117	100

AVERAGE PER ROUND: PACQUIAO landed 17 per round from 49 thrown, MARQUEZ 11 from 36 thrown.

But then again, as I said the fight was too close and people watching can award some very close rounds either way. Some even had to give round 6 to MANNY while others had to give round 1 to MARQUEZ, totally different from how I scored it.

As if you didn’t know, in boxing, the judges are seated in the best seats of the house, positioned at vantage points where they get to be the first to catch flying sweats, salivas and blood of the fighters. Having the best seats in the house from a vantage point, they can see when punches are thrown and whether they landed or not. After every round, they submit their cards without regard for the total points each fighter garnered after the fight. And speaking again from vantage point, if a judge is positioned at a place totally away from where a heated action is taking place, he also does not know “categorically” what specific punches can be scored. This explains the “even” scoring.

Bottomline is in a very close fight, judges do not only consider punches. They also take note of demeanor in the ring- and in this aspect, the PACMAN got their nods. He was the aggressor the entirety of the fight as if he was the one seeking for the title, he pressed the action and tentatively though, exerted more effort. He was indeed losing in the middle rounds but picked up the pace by the 9^th round. Some would say that JMM landed the heavier blows, yes, but that was how the slow-mos had it. I know as boxing fans we complained of previous fights when a fighter controlled the round but the slow-mo showed otherwise. This was also the case in this fight.

The fighters’ faces described who landed the better shots too. While the PACMAN had a cut on his eyelid courtesy of a head-butt, MARQUEZ had welts on both eyes and a busted lip. If the PACMAN did not land the heavier blows, it certainly does not give justification to MARQUEZ’s face. Surely those did not just sprout out without hands inflicting the damage.

Again, bottomline is that MARQUEZ was the challenger- he should have brought the action to the PACMAN. All throughout the fight he was backpedalling, awaiting for PACMAN to throw the punch before he threw his. He was successful to keep the PACMAN until the end of the fight and not kissing the canvass this time, but this was because unlike the first two fights, he never took the chance like any challenger should. This does not impress the judges. In the movie Troy, ACHILLES said and I quote: “In that beach is glory and immortality, take it , it is yours!” MARQUEZ wanted glory and immortality. He wanted it but did not take it- he simply waited for it.

Lastly, I believe we should not be too hard on the PACMAN just because we did not see the fight the way we expected it. Fighters are human beings too and as such suffer from off-nights. Last night may be one of those off-nights, or it could be that MARQUEZ really was a tough-style to crack, after all styles make fights. We may just have been too used to seeing PACMAN gobble the opposition. He spoiled us- come on he did!

I am sure that like us, PACMAN has shares of problems too bothering his head. Yes, he is rich to the max but I doubt he is excused from the problems that normal beings encounter everyday, yet he kills himself training just so that he does not disappoint every one of us. The most difficult part about being a professional is to perform sans the problems, in showbiz we say “the show must go on”. To the PACMAN, it is painful but then he has to lace the gloves and catch the punches if need be.

To the naysayers who would say that “what the heck he has twenty million dollars after all, I am ready to take his place anytime”. I doubt it though. It is very difficult to be away from one’s family just to kill oneself due to training, and climb the ring at the pain of being very badly hurt, but it is extra challenging to lift the burdens of an impoverished nation even for just a day. He may earn millions every time he fights, but don’t you see, we get to have our fair share of it by the inspiration and joys he brings, even temporary, whenever he laces those gloves to rumble. When he retires, where do we get the new inspiration? Does our part of this world stop again, where we get to share a common vision unlike what we do everyday. Definitely, our only “sure solace would be GOD, since we cannot be sure where to look up to for inspiration. Oh by the way unlike most of us, he speaks about GOD all the time too.

Good luck to us then.