Papsie together with his brothers listened to live airing of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight via the radio. There was a live tv airing at the basketball court, too. Some of the neighbors were there.
Papsie and his brothers learned of the win before the neighbors came. When they arrived, most of them were saying that it should not be Pacquiao who won, that Marquez should have the belt, that Pacquiao was bloodied, etc. etc. In defense of Pacquiao and based on Trinidad’s comment on the radio, Papsie and his brother said that a win is a win; it is the judges’ call. His brother even said that if it is a win for Trinidad, then it is a win, because he is a very good sports analyst, and that he could have said that Manny has no chances anymore. Though I do not agree that listening to a respected sports analyst is enough to draw a conclusion, I insisted, when Papsie went inside the house, that he should watch the fight first before siding with Pacquiao, or ‘remain loyal’ to Pacquiao. 😀
We were about to leave to the supermarket. Papsie still has to shower so I switched on the tv and watched but it was already round 8. There I saw on the first half how Marquez transformed into a strong fighter, and a fierce one at that. Manny’s jaw flew when he received the upper cut from Marquez. It was followed by several blows that really affected Manny. When it was Manny’s turn, his punches seemed not to have an effect at all. I got scared. I said to myself that ‘if this continues, Manny will loose.’ Then on the second half, the table turned. Manny must have thought that he could not afford to just relinquish the title like that. He was on the offensive suddenly and managed to only throw understated punches. From round 9 up, it was Manny’s game because Marquez was just waiting and it was Manny who seem to always start the fight. As a challenger, Marquez failed at this point though strength wise, he can fight.
Marquez also seemed to learn about Manny Pacquiao’s moves that made it difficult for Manny. He was also persistent and unyielding every time Manny attacked. Was Marquez underestimated? Are there other factors that affected Manny’s delivery? I was listening to someone say that he might have burnt out because of too much training. Perhaps it can be a factor but I know many will agree that this is not the delivery that the crowd expected. That was not the same Manny in the ring. His timing was off and the level of delivery was low.
But in fairness to Pacquiao, he always wanted to give a good fight for the audience and when Marquez seemed to have cowered, he attacked probably because he was thinking it was not fair for the viewers to watch a boring fight when Marquez will just stand there waiting for him and only in defense. He fights not for the title alone but for the viewers. That is self-explanatory, I guess. Who would want to disappoint the millions that spend money to watch a bout? Who would want to lose the fans when every body else seem fan-atic, and are always willing to save a penny for these fights? Who would want to lose everything?
In fairness to him, he is still the humble Filipino boxer who has compassion for his opponent and never fails to say something good about him. And before I forgot, he had improved expressing himself.
Warmstone 