Marquez’s One Punch That Stunned the Pacquiao Era
13, the unlucky number. It was 13 years ago today when we perhaps saw the most memorably shocking knockout of all-time great Manny Pacquiao’s career. But for once it wasn’t Pac-Man who was scoring the KO. Instead, as surely all fans remember in quite vivid fashion, Mexican great, indeed, another all-time great of the sport, Juan Manuel Marquez landed THE punch of his career in the sixth round of the final fight of the Marquez-Pacquiao rivalry.
And what a rivalry it was, full of fire, intensity, drama, back-and-forth action. And the grand finale, the one-punch knockout scored by “Dinamita” Marquez, shocked the world.
The Sixth Round That Changed Everything
December 2012, Las Vegas: when Pacquiao and Marquez, two modern day legends who had swapped leather and controversial decisions for a little over four-and-a-half years, closed their show. Going into the fourth fight, it could certainly be argued how there was still no clear winner as far as who the overall better fighter was. But this changed, and in shocking fashion, when Marquez landed the kind of perfect punch all fighters dream of landing.
After another great action fight, one that saw Marquez busted up and knocked down, with Pacquiao also tasting the canvas, the Mexican assassin suddenly struck with utter perfection, this during the fading seconds of the sixth-round. Marquez caught the inrushing Filipino icon with a bomb of a flush right hand.
How Pacquiao Won Even After Losing
Pacquiao went down as violently as any knockout victim you care to mention ever did, Pac Man landing flat on his face, not moving for some time. It was absolutely The KO of the Year, if not the decade. Even now, some 13 years on, the knockout has the power to leave an observer with a queasy sensation. Right up there with Sugar Ray Robinson KO Gene Fulmer, Manny Pacquiao KO Ricky Hatton, and Julian Jackson KO Herol Graham, Marquez KO Pacquiao was utterly sensational.
However, in the immediate aftermath, Manny Pacquiao earned perhaps even more fans. Refusing to feel sorry for himself, refusing to make any excuses for the loss, Pac-Man recovered, he dusted himself down and he got back on the horse. This is what a true champion does, and no fighter perhaps deserves the mantle ‘True Champion’ as much as Pacquiao deserves it.
Plenty of us wondered what Pacquiao might do next, having been so violently smashed to the canvas. Pacquiao soldiered on, as a true champion. So too did Marquez. There was no fifth fight between the two warriors.
To this day, plenty of fans cannot stop thinking about what might have happened had these two all-time greats ran into one another one more time. Just as many of us will never forget where we were when we saw Marquez explode on Pacquiao the way he did on the evening of December 8, 2012. Where were YOU, and did you watch the fight live, in person at the arena, or on TV some place?
