#10: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez

Anybody who knows me at all knows that I’m a huge boxing fan. Just like football, it’s probably because boxing is a sport that my malnourished Blue Monstar frame won't allow me to play. During the past decade, boxing has enjoyed a rebirth in the featherweight-light heavyweight divisions, which has fortunately diverted attention from the albatross that is the heavyweight division. If a boxing rivalry is going to be truly great, it has to have at least two chapters. When Jermain Taylor still had a career, he and Bernard Hopkins produced two memorable back-to-back fights (1:19). Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward produced three fights that were worthy of a movie, and then when the movie finally was made, none of them were included (If the sequel doesn’t’ happen, I will never forgive Mark Wahlberg for this.)

            But this post is dedicated to the draw and 12 round split decision that Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao have had, and the third one upcoming in November.

Why this is on the list:

As Jim Lampley will be happy to tell you, fights are made on styles. If the adage is true, then this might be the best boxing rivalry of the past 10 years, active or not. In these two fights, Pacquiao was a prototype of the boxer that he is today. In terms of raw boxing talent and athletic ability, it’s evident from early on that Pacquiao should be the runaway winner. The quick, active feet, blinding hand speed (1:50), and overwhelming power from every geometric angle are all there. But what Pacquiao didn’t have at this point in his career was the mental game, which came courtesy of Freddie Roach. For the duration of both fights, Roach completely dictated Pacquiao’s in ring, round to round strategy. Listen for the double jab suggestion at 3:58, and watch how much Pac relies on it in the 3rd. When Pacquiao started taking on water in the middle of rounds, he was incapable of fixing the problem himself, or even creating a stopgap. Quite simply, he had difficulty boxing and thinking at the same time.

            While Marquez may have lagged behind in both age and athleticism, his ability to think his way through rounds was light years ahead of Manny's. Pacquiao was definitely the more visually exciting fighter, but he was also recklessly impetuous at times. At certain points when he got hit with a solid punch, he reacted less like a professional boxer, and more like (4:00) a guy who got sucker punched outside of a bar. Mistakes like these from Pacquiao were the reason Marquez was able to strategize his way back into both fights. In stark contrast to Pacquiao, Marquez is a brilliant in ring tactician, who covered his own weaknesses while spotting his opponent’s all with live ammunition flying by and sometimes into his head.

In the rounds that he wins, such as Round 5 of the second fight, he noticeably tempers Pacquiao’s frenetic pace, and counter punches so effectively that you would think he’s flipping through Freddie Roach’s playbook between rounds. When he landed his first big right hand in Pacquiao-Marquez I, he did so by first feinting with a left to the body (9:33), and then shooting over the top of Pacquiao's lowered defenses. After the initial success, he beat that strategy into the Pacquiao's head, faking with a left, waiting for Pacquiao’s hands to drop, and then hammering him with overhand rights all through the middle rounds. 

  Marquez had the unenviable task of of climbing out of an early points hole against the best boxer in the world both times they fought, (after a third round knockdown in the second fight, and after an absurd three first round knockdowns in the first). If he was simply able to stay on his feet, the middle rounds provide compelling evidence that he could have won both matches, and maybe Freddie Roach wouldn't have his own TV show today.
As his shirts say, Manny does know "BOOM", and he brings a fistful of left handed bombs to every fight. But Marquez is the only guy who has consistently found a way of diffusing them by the middle rounds, which makes the third fight so compelling. Pacquiao has knocked Marquez down plenty, he's never really hurt him badly except on the scorecards. Roach admits that Marquez has given "them" problems in the past, something that the normally brash trainer doesn't usually concede to opponents. If Marquez is only off his feet between rounds in this fight, instead of in the middle of them, there is a possibility that he knows Manny just well enough to outbox the champ for 12 rounds.

In terms of the rivalry aspect, exhibit A would be the first round of the first fight. Not only does Pacquiao knock Marquez down three times, HE BREAKS MARQUEZ’S NOSE (8:15). That’s right, Marquez mounts a furious 11 round comeback to force a draw with a bleeding and broken nose.  Both fighters developed nasty looking cuts over the course of the fights, including Marquez’s particularly grotesque gash (4:25) over his right eye in the middle and late rounds of the second.

As much as these guys do respect each other, I take it any time some guy punches you in the face enough times to draw blood, there’s a healthy amount of dislike. I’d be right. Marquez believes he was robbed in the first two fights, and that’s not necessarily far from the truth. I scored the first fight 114-112 Pacquiao, and the second 114-113 Pacquiao, and I had a number of rounds in each fight that I had to re-watch 2 or 3 times to determine a winner. 

Why this isn’t higher:

Two reasons. The first being that there have only been three fights, including the November date. Both fights were high quality, but if you compare this to say a Nadal-Federer rivalry, it doesn’t stack up. Tennis and boxing are both one on one sports, and both matchups have produced riveting moments, but Pacquiao has fought Marquez twice, while Federer and Nadal have clashed 25 times.

             The primary reason is that the November fight is a huge question mark, not just to live up to the standard of the first two fights, but to even be a competitive fight at all. Since the second fight in 2008, Pacquiao has attained legendary status. With the exception of his last fight with Mosley (which was so unpalatable that I didn’t buy it), he has dismantled and embarrassed everyone put in front of him. In 3 years, Roach has removed all of the impurities in Pacquiao’s form, and molded him into an almost flawless boxer. He has improved his defense in all areas, including most importantly no longer leaving himself open to big counters when he throws his powerful straight left. In terms of his offense, opponents now actually need to be conscious of his right hand in order to remain in that state (ask Miguel Cotto at 1:05).

            While Pacquiao has aged and improved, Marquez seems to have borrowed more from the former camp than the latter. It's not his fault, he’s 37 now, and unlike Bernard Hopkins, his weight class relies heavily on footwork on quickness which are the first things to go. He has a unanimous loss to Floyd Mayweather at the same weight that he’ll be fighting at on November 12. Pacquiao has a way of making aging Mexican fighters accelerate their retirement planning (first Erik Morales, and then memorably Oscar de la Hoya). As smart of a fighter as Marquez is, he’s definitely on the down-slope of the athletic bell curve, while Pacquiao might be just slightly past his peak. If Pacquiao runs roughshod over Marquez in the third fight, then this fight falls off the list. If Marquez can dodge Pacquiao’s heat seeking left’s for 12 rounds, and can outbox him like he’s done in 75% of the rounds they’ve met, then it moves up. Until then, it’s #10.