Juan Manuel Marquez-Manny Pacquiao
JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ ALMOST NEVER FOUGHT AGAIN ON HBO!
San Francisco, CA– When Juan Manuel Marquez first appeared on HBO, it was in November 1999 a losing effort against Freddie Norwood. At 29-1 going in, the lone blemish on JMM’s resume was a Disqualification loss in his professional debut against Javier Duran (then 1-0, retired 4-14, 2 KOs) in Mexico City in May 1993. The loss to the then 35-0 Norwood was such a “stinker” that more than one HBO employee at the time said, “Neither guy (Norwood or Marquez) will ever again be on HBO.” Both men would return to the network then referred to as Home Box Office.
MARQUEZ KNOWS MANNY PACQUIAO WELL!
In May 2004, Manny Pacquiao, now 53-3-2, 38 KOs, considered by some as the best fighter ‘pound for pound’ today, had beaten six months prior Marco Antonio Barrera in a big upset. A primitive fighter at the time, all Pacquiao had was his ‘money punch,’ that being the southpaw’s left cross. Dropping Marquez thrice in round one, it was only JMM’s big heart that kept him in the fight at that point. Beginning in the third round, JMM had figured out the ‘one armed bandit’ style of the Pacman and won a lot more rounds from that point forward than did the Filipino who is now a boxing icon. The end result was a Split Decision Draw with scores of 115-110 Pacquiao, 113-113, & 115-110 Marquez. Filipinos will never let you forget that the 113-113 score submitted by judge Ben Clements, a subjective opinion put forth by Clements as he scored the opening round 10-7, and not the 10-6 the other two judges John Stewart (115-110 Pacquiao) and Guy Jutras (115-110 Marquez. The decision to the score the session 10-7 instead of 10-6, cost the Pacman a Split Decision win.
BOTH MEN SHOWED HUGE CRACKS IN THEIR STRUCTURAL FOUNDATIONS
Juan Manuel Marquez showed an inability in the first two rounds to avoid the left crosses of Pacquiao that decked him four times in two rounds. On the flip side, Manny Pacquiao displayed a crude boxing style with little imagination, something you don’t see today as the fiery Filipino is now a multi-dimensional boxer who can punch with power with both hands.
MARQUEZ GOES TO INDONESIA FOR “CHUMP CHANGE”
When a rematch with Pacquaio didn’t happen in 2006, which was a managerial gaff by JMM’s Nacho Berastein, Marquez took his WBA featherweight (126 lbs) title to Indonesia and was beaten on points by the still unbeaten Chris John. Getting a $40,000 purse, at least ten times less than he would have gotten to rematch Pacquiao, Chris John, the expected tune up was anything but, and still reigns as WBA featherweight king, although he has faced less than stellar opposition. With JMM losing two points for low blows, John’s winning scores were 118-110, 117-111 & 116-112. Some claim JMM was robbed, others think John won fair and square.
THE REMATCH THAT WAS SO CONTROVERSIAL!
After four wins against the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Rocky Juarez, Terdsak Kokeitgym and Jimrex Jaca, JMM was on a bit of a roll when he met Pacquiao in March 2008, again in Las Vegas. Pacquiao on the other hand had gone 6-1, again beating Marco Antonio Barrera, losing to and then beating Erik Morales, besting Oscar Larrios, hapless Hector Velasquez, Fahsan K-Battery, and Jorge Solis, this before meeting JMM in a March 2008 rematch. Again, Pac showed the early power. From that point forward, controversy reigned. A knockdown by Pacquiao proved to be the determining factor. Most of us watching the fight, including the Filipino TV team that included ‘pound for pound’ list member, Nonito Donaire, thought Marquez won this 130 lb. fight after 12 rounds. But the scores read, Jerry Roth 115-112 for Marquez & Tom Miller went 114-113 Pacquiao, as did Duane Ford who tabbed the clash 115-112 Pac. As it turned out, only Jerry Roth got it right , and the knockdown JMM suffered either cost Marquez a Split Decision win or a Draw.
THIRD ENCOUNTER & UFC FOX TEV DEBUT BOTH SET FOR NOVEMBER 12
Something unusual will take place on November 12 when Pacman and Marquez to meet for the third time, that being the UFC heavyweight championship between champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos will be shown on FOX TV. The UFC fight on FOX is free, while the Pacquiao-Marquez III will cost you better than $60 clams to watch it at home in high definition on pay per view. The unusual circumstance is that the UFC fight will be seen by many millions of heads more than the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, something that is uncommon as when Pac fights, as he usually is the king when it comes to drawing viewers.
WILL BREAK DOWN THE THIRD FIGHT AS WE GET CLOSER TO NOVEMBER 12
With the fight nearly six weeks away, there is plenty of time to analyze the third clash between Pacquiao and Marquez.
CHRIS BENOIT STORY “FINAL SEGMENT” AIRS MONDAY HERE AT RINGTALK.COM
Some of you think I’ve been lagging on the final part of the series on WWE star Chris Benoit, Double Murderer & Suicide story, but I’ve been waiting on some replies from a couple of “brain trauma” experts in the medical profession before packing in the Benoit story. Thus[
] in all actuality, it has been the two MD’s who have been lagging.
BARE KNUCKLE SERIES CONTINUES TODAY
Part II of Professor Chuck Marbry’s series of stories on the history of “Bare-Knuckle Boxing” continues today at RingTalk.com
HEARD THE LARRY MERCHANT INTERVIEW YET?
We had HBO’s Larry Merchant on “Ring Talk Worldwide” radio last Saturday. Click on the show highlighted in the left hand margin of the home page here at RingTalk.com and Merchant, the most prolific boxing personality on TV for the past quarter century shows you why, as Larry chews on Floyd Mayweather like a Pit Bull would on a rawhide chew toy.
Pedro Fernandez
53-5-1, (39 KOs)