I hate to disappoint many Filipino boxing fans. It wasn’t a lucky punch from Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez that viciously floored boxing icon Manny Pacquiao on his face to the canvas in the sixth round of their fourth match in Las Vegas last Saturday. It was a calculated punch that some boxing experts described as the “perfect punch.” It was a punch that Marquez had waited for since the bell rang and one that should send Pacquiao thinking seriously about retirement.
Marquez is one of the craftiest counter-punchers in boxing, and Pacquiao is known to have difficulty with counter-punchers. Erik Morales, another great counter-puncher, gave him some of the toughest challenges in his colorful career. He won two against Morales but lost the middle bout of their epic trilogy, mostly because of very effective counter-punching by the Mexican.
As I said, the sixth round punch that ended the fight was not a lucky punch as many Filipino fans want to believe. It was a punch delivered when the ever aggressive Pacquiao, who was sending a flurry of punches in hopes of knocking out the bloodied Marquez, had momentarily forgotten about that solid straight right that his trainer Freddie Roach had warned him about.
It was the same straight right to the temple that put Pacquiao on his butt in the third round just as he was delivering left and right combinations on Marquez. The first knockdown punch should have made him even more aware of that vicious counterpunch, but in his desire to finish off Marquez late in the sixth, he simply forgot about it. And to make it worse, the punch was delivered just one second shy of the bell that would have signaled the end of the round. Instead, the punch ended the fight and perhaps Pacquiao’s chequered career.
In a pre-fight interview, Roach explained why Pacquiao was having difficulty with counter-punchers.
“Well, Manny really loves when people come to him,” he said. “He’s basically a counter-puncher himself. He makes them reach for him and he counters over the top a lot. Marquez is a pure counter-puncher and doesn’t come forward too often. He’s always fighting off the back foot and looking for the counter. And Manny doesn’t do so well with that style, because he has to be the aggressor and he’s a little bit out of his comfort zone.”
“He (Marquez) knows Manny likes to move, for the most part, into the right hand, and he knows not to lead with the jab, because if he does, he gets countered over the top,” Roach said. “So he leads with right hands a lot, and that’s something we have to deal with. That’s the biggest part of the puzzle, is how to eliminate that straight right hand, because he does have a lot of success with that.”
And Roach was right. Pacquiao had difficulty eliminating that right straight counter-punch, and he hit the canvas twice because of that.
It pained all of us to see Pacquiao drop to the floor face first and not move for a few minutes. We shared the agony of his wife Jinkee, who was screaming in fear that Pacquiao could have been hurt seriously. And we all went into a collective sigh of relief when our beloved hero rose, still dizzy but seemingly safe.
Very few thought of a rematch; every body was thinking that Pacquiao might have to think seriously of his wife and mother’s plea for him to hang his gloves as he quietly accepted defeat.
And now, I must reiterate what I said in November 2010 just before his fight with Antonio Margarito and a few months after he demolished boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya also in Las Vegas. I said then that Pacquiao must start thinking of retiring, having seen how he battered De la Hoya into submission, basically obliterating all the great fights that the popular Mexican had won in his career. After that fight, what continues to linger in the minds of boxing fans was De la Hoya’s one-sided loss, his battered face and his meek surrender, instead of the legendary victories that he scored through his great career.
We did not worry then about his coming fight with Antonio Margarito, whom he eventually defeated convincingly on unanimous decision after failing to convince the referee to stop the fight. But we did worry that one fighter would eventually find a way to destroy him the same way he demolished De la Hoya. We worried that his greatness would be diminished by such a defeat. We worried that too much battering in the ring would cause him problems later in his life.
I must agree with Jinkee and Dionesia. Give it up, Manny. Never mind that it was stunning defeat. Never mind that it would bother you no end that you had to end your career flat on your face. You have already proven yourself a boxing legend with an unprecedented eight titles in eight divisions, and the best pound-for-pound title for years. Many boxing greats ended their careers after a devastating defeat, and they remain adored and respected. Think of De la Hoya, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and many more. He’s already assured of a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame and a lofty place in boxing history.
Forget a fifth fight with Marquez. Forget Floyd Mayweather Jr. Think of your family; think of your health. Enjoy your family and enjoy your riches. Give more time to public service if you so wish. Hang those gloves.
