Manny Pacquiao: “I Am Fine”; Pac knocked out by Marquez, what next?

by Sam Kirton: Manny Pacquiao, 10 time world champion, was knocked out last night by a devastating right hand delivered by Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth fight. Pacquiao said he would be happy to have a 5th fight with Marquez. This may worsen the chances of Pacquiao fighting Mayweather considering that Mayweather easily beat Marquez and Marquez had just knocked out Pacquiao. I think that going into a 5th fight together Marquez should get the higher pay than Pacquiao even though the money doesn’t mean much to them anymore.

Manny Pacquiao: “I Am Fine”

LAS VEGAS, NEV. (December 9, 2012) – Following his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Márquez, Fighter of the Decade MANNY ”Pacman” PACQUIAO made a precautionary visit to University Medical Center.,“Manny was given a CT scan and the results were negative,” said Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s advisor. “We were in an out in just over an hour and Manny was in excellent spirits.”

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.

Gamboa defeats Farenas in 12 to win interim WBA Super Featherweight title

By Joseph Herron: Tonight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in the co-main event of the evening, Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16 KOs) became the interim WBA Super Featherweight Champion by defeating Michael Farenas (34-4-4, 26 KOs) in a surprisingly competitive twelve round unanimous decision.

Although the judges at ringside correctly scored the twelve round contest 117-109, 118-110, and 117-108, in favor of the former World Champion, Michael Farenas proved to be a game fighter who was worthy of competing for a major world title.

The commence the action, Yuriorkis established his speed and power while landing hard, compact shots from mid to long range. The former Top Rank fighter was intent on reminding the fight fans in attendance of what they had missed for fourteen months of political boxing drama and inactivity. The Cuban missile seemed sharp and energetic for the entire three minute round.

After being momentarily wobbled by a straight left hand from the Filipino fighter in the first minute of the second round, Gamboa stayed calm and composed, retaliating with hard combinations on the inside. The Cuban exile floored Farenas with ten seconds left in the round with a hard counter right hook on the inside. Although Farenas was up immediately, the hard punching Filipino was ostensibly shaken by the punch.

Vazquez dominates Gesta for 12 rounds to retain IBF Lightweight title

By Joseph Herron: On the undercard of the Pacquiao/Marquez IV PPV event, Miguel Vazquez (32-3, 13 KOs) successfully defended his 135 pound title by outpointing previously undefeated contender Mercito Gesta (26-1-1, 14 KOs) for twelve uneventful rounds. The judges at ringside scored the contest 117-111, 119-109, and 118-110, unanimously in favor of the reigning champ.

Throughout every round of the IBF Championship Lightweight contest, the incumbent title holder did a brilliant job of landing his left land and moving away from Gesta’s power punch. He seemed to outbox the tough Filipino prospect with ease while connecting the occasional straight right hand.

Javier Fortuna decisions Patrick Hyland to win interim WBA Featherweight title

By Joseph Herron: In one of the more highly anticipated preliminary bouts on the Pacaquaio/Marquez IV fight card, knock-out artist Javier Fortuna (21-0, 15 KOs) defeated Patrick Hyland (27-1, 12 KOs) with a surprisingly competitive twelve round unanimous decision. The judges at ringside scored the contest 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113.

The scheduled twelve round fight was for the interim WBA Featherweight Championship, and both men were looking for a sensational showing to attract bigger opportunities against the elite level fighters of the 126 pound weight class.

In the first two stanzas of the 126 pound fight, both men showed their opponent much respect and seemed surprisingly tentative to begin the match. But in the third round, Javier Fortuna began to realize that Patrick Hyland wasn’t planning to let his hands go early and began to open up with sharp straight left hands and right hooks around the tight guard of the cautious Irish fighter.

Although the hard punching Dominican fighter overwhelmingly landed more power shots than his opponent in rounds four and five, nothing seemed to detour Patrick Hyland. Fortuna seemed content with landing the occasional combination, then circling the Irish fighter with lateral movement on both sides of the ring.

Mikkel Kessler destroys Magee, wins WBA super middleweight strap

Mikkel Kessler destroys Magee, wins WBA super middleweight strap By Michael Collins,, photo: Wende / Team Sauerland – Using a fierce body attack, Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) chopped down WBA World super middleweight champion Brian Magee (36-5-1, 25 KO’s) in a third round TKO on Saturday night to capture his World Boxing Association 168 pound title at the BOXEN, in Herning, Denmark.

Kessler started off slowly but once he figured out that Magee couldn’t handle it to the body, he dropped him with a nice right hand in the 2nd and then another time in the 3rd round. After the knockdown at the start of the 3rd, the fight was halted because Magee was in no shape to continue fighting.

Kessler landed probing shots in the 1st round as he looked for areas to attack the 37-year-old Magee. Kessler landed some nice jabs and a few single right hands but nothing special. The southpaw Magee charged Kessler and hit him with a few nice shots at the end of the round but for the most part it was all Kessler.

In the 2nd round, Kessler noticed that Magee was wincing when he hit him to the body. He then loaded up with a big right hand to the midsection of Magee that put him down. Kessler then continued to hammer Magee to the body, causing him on two occasions to crouch down in pain but not hitting the canvas.

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.

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.