Pacquiao’s career not over with loss to Marquez

By Brad Cronick: Manny Pacquiao’s career isn’t over just because he was stopped in the 6th round by Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night. This is something that happens in boxing especially when fighters are going all out looking to score a knockout like Pacquiao was in the 6th round when he got knocked flat by a right hand from Marquez.

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Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV – A Fistful of Zeal

Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV – A Fistful of ZealBy Marc Livitz: Boxing received a cattle prod to the backside on Saturday evening and amazingly, it took but one bundle of dynamite from a certain “Dinamita”.

It was the sweet science’s rendition of a Saturday night special which likely sent one nation into hysterical levels of celebration and another into a deep sadness. To further illustrate the significance of Manny Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez: the news of the Filipino Congressman’s defeat as posted on the website of the Manila Times took brief (and hopefully very brief) precedence over the destruction unleashed upon the Philippines by Typhoon Bopha, which has left the country in a state of utter devastation.

Simply because the nature of Marquez’s savage gift of unconsciousness passed on to Pacquiao was delivered in the style that it was, the dying seconds of round six from the MGM Grand will do more than just remain etched in the hearts and minds of boxing fans worldwide. This is a flash bulb memory moment to be sure.

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Pacquiao/Marquez IV: The Winners and Losers

Pacquiao/Marquez IV: The Winners and LosersBy Dave Cacciatore, photo: Chris Farina – Top Rank – The fourth edition of this rivalry far exceeded most boxing fans expectations. Usually a measured defensive fighter in his biggest encounters, JMM showed one punch power in stopping the Filipino superstar. Pacquiao also showed the same gradual decline in both power and activity from his recent contests. This fight was also important for it’s implications, lets examine how this will effect the boxing landscape moving forward.

Losers

Manny Pacquiao – The great trainer Emanuel Steward taught us that youth and aggression fighters have a shorter shelf life. That lesson was painfully drilled into Pacquiao’s head by a single Marquez punch in this fight. His time at the top is clearly over and there is little hope that Manny can regain the devastating tornado like fury that allowed him to blaze to the top of the pound for pound rankings.

Freddie Roach – The trainer of Manny Pacquiao’s reputation took a significant blow on Saturday night.

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Pacquiao-Marquez IV – The Shock Of The Year, The Fight Of The Year, The Round Of The Year, The KO Of The Year!

Pacquiao-Marquez IV - The Shock Of The Year, The Fight Of The Year, The Round Of The Year, The KO Of The Year!By James Slater, Photos Chris Farina – Top Rank — The great, often troubled sport of boxing delivered in style last night; with all the good, the fabulous and the awe-inspiring things that make it so special being witnessed in glitzy Las Vegas. Going into the fourth instalment of the fierce, controversial and utterly compelling Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rivalry, fans knew they could once again expect something special.

What they got was something totally unforgettable.

Never will any fan privileged to have seen this barnburner of an epic fight – the 5th-round being utterly remarkable – forget the way the action made them feel. Then came the wholly unexpected ending. Never will any fan who saw Mexican legend Marquez send Filipino idol Pacquiao to the canvas in a face first manner be able to shake the image from their mind. Up there with the incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson’s 5th-round icing of the steel-chinned Gene Fulmer, Tommy Hearn’s annihilation of Roberto Duran and, more recently, Pac-Man’s KO over Ricky Hatton, “Dinamita’s” KO was as disturbing as it was electrifying.

The questions came thick and fast after the shock of seeing the seemingly unstoppable (Forget Manny’s early career stoppage defeats to Rustico Torrecampo, when he was a skinny novice, and to Medgoen Singsurat, when a body shot felled the weight drained 112-pounder. We all know that Manny Pacquiao was a raw learner, not yet with Freddie Roach) Pac-Man KO’d so brutally: will Pacquiao fight again? If So, will there be a fifth fight with Marquez? Will a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight now never happen (and don‘t we all want to know what Floyd has to say about last night‘s earth trembler!)? Is there anything at all to the suggestions that Marquez has taken illegal stimulants?

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Juan Manuel Marquez scores shockingly surreal knockout against Manny Pacquiao!

Juan Manuel Marquez scores shockingly surreal knockout against Manny Pacquiao!

by Geoffrey Ciani – With nearly half his face covered in flowing streams of blood, Juan Manuel Marquez resembled something out of a zombie movie during the sixth round of action in his fourth fight against Manny Pacquiao. Despite suffering a solid third round knockdown from a sneaky Marquez right, Pacquiao seemed to have momentum on his side after scoring a nice knockdown of his own in the fifth. This came compliments of a sharp Pacquiao left that buckled Marquez to the point his glove bounced off the canvas in a spontaneous effort to reestablish balance. Pacquiao turned up the heat following the knockdown and began growing bolder throughout the sixth, and all the while Marquez was patiently trying to fend off Manny’s attacks while looking for something in Pacquiao’s rhythm he could exploit. And then it happened, he found it—BOOM!—fight over, just like that!

Pacquiao never even saw the punch coming. It was a tremendously calculated right hand that Juan threw with meanest intentions, and Pacquiao wound up exactly where Marquez anticipated he would be before even launching the thunderous knockout blow. Watching Pacquiao fall face first onto the canvas, and then remaining there motionlessly with his right arm partially under his body—it was something that was simply surreal. In terms of the sheer brutality of the knockout, it was surely right up there with Antonio Tarver’s second round knockout against Roy Jones and Sergio Martinez’s bomb against Paul Williams. It even was eerily reminiscent of the devastating shot Pacquiao finished Ricky Hatton with more than three years ago. But watching an icon like Pacquiao collapse as if he had been shot at close range in a sneak attack by a stealth assassin was just one of those moments that will forever live on in the annals of boxing history. It actually reminded me of watching a dazed Mike Tyson helplessly groping for his mouthpiece after being absolutely bludgeoned by Buster Douglas. That was the power and magnitude of the imagery on display.

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Juan Manuel Marquez dramatically KOs Manny Pacquiao in 6!

By Joseph Herron – In an epic fourth meeting between two future Hall of Famers and current pound for pound fighters, Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Manny Paquiao in the sixth round of their scheduled twelve round fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In one of the most exciting and memorable fights of 2012, JMM silenced his critics and cemented his legacy as an all-time great fighter by handing the Pac-Man and the general fight public a leading candidate for KO of the year.

The perfectly timed and short, compact right hook landed flush on the chin of Manny Pacquiao at the closing bell of the sixth round, when the soon to be 34 year old southpaw walked right into a punch that he never saw coming.

Until the “Coup de Grace” was delivered by JMM, Manny was winning the fight on every judges’ scorecard; with tallies of 47-46 x 3.

Pacquiao came into the fight with a masterful gameplan that was yielding success for the majority of the contest. Manny was getting the master counter puncher to fire his right hand first and then countering with the straight left by using feints and effective upper body movement.

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Rafael and Malignaggi pick Marquez to beat Pacquiao tonight

By Steve Mabbott: Dan Rafael of ESPN and WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi see Juan Manuel Marquez beating Manny Pacquiao tonight in their fourth fight together. Rafael sees it as a law of averages type of thing, whereas Malignaggi believes that Marquez will win a fight decision.

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Mayweather Sr. not interested in Pacquiao-Marquez 4 bout

By Bill Phanco: Floyd Mayweather Sr. doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in tonight’s clash between Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s), because he says he’s seen too many fights between them in the past where the wrong fighter got his hand raised after the fight.

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Boxing Losers v. Winners

Boxing Losers v. WinnersBy “Old Yank” Schneider

Sentimentalism Defined:

The bloom is off the rose. We all saw it coming with Freddie Roach “wishing” his way to win after win with Amir Kahn. But one more win was not in the cards. Roach fighters would continue to lose. Senshenko…Chavez, Jr….Pacquaio. Wilting in boxing is uglier than it is in any other sport because of the utter sense of downer that follows. There are no other team members to pick you up. When the wilting begins only the solo bloom is there, losing its petals, in what seems a one-act play following an often brilliant career; the soliloquy spoken to an audience that has painfully, quietly and sadly if not pitifully already left the theater. Losing it at the end of a career in boxing is the ultimate solo performance — this rose by any other name does not smell sweet.

The fans are already leaving. We know it to be true. It is the legacy of the old ushering in the new — especially so when all the others have gone — evidenced by them playing their hedging comments out in the blogosphere before the bout has even begun.

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Marquez wants to KO Pacquiao to remove the judges from the equation

Marquez wants to KO Pacquiao to remove the judges from the equationBy Bill Phanco: Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) will be looking to knock Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) clean out on Saturday in their fourth fight between them. Marquez, 39, wants to take the judges completely out of their position of being able to sit as the decider in this fight by knocking Pacquiao and making sure that he won’t be on the receiving end of another controversial decision like in the past three fights.

Speaking with the BBC Sport, Marquez said “I am looking for the knockout. I have trained really hard, and I feel ready. I am looking for the knockout because the judge gave another [bad decision in last Pacquiao fight].”
Marquez has got the body and the strength now to accomplish his goal. He looks even more muscular than in his last fight against Pacquiao, and in that fight Marquez looked powerful.

If Marquez’s extra muscles equate to more power than Pacquiao could be in for a brutal beating tomorrow night because he and his trainer Freddie Roach have already said that they’re going to take the fight to Marquez to try and overwhelm him with punches. Roach seems to believe that the answer to beating guys like Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is to try and overwhelm their defenses.

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