Andrew Walker, photo by Naoki Fukuda: The long awaited rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez did not disappoint tonight at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with Manny Pacquiao taking a split decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez to become the new WBC Super Featherweight World champion. After a close first round both fighters stepped up the already high work rate in round two with Marquez and Pacquiao both teeing off with some good shots but Marquez just edged the round with his excellent counter punching. In the third round Pacquiao caught Marquez with a terrific short left that had the Champion down with just under a minute left of the round to go.
Marquez was nearly knocked down for a second time just before the bell sounded but he managed to remain on his feet and regained his composure. The fourth round started a little slower then the previous three but Pacquiao was beginning to show his superior strength whilst Marquez was having more success with his jab, beating Pacquiao to the counter punch once more to produce another close round.. Round five and six produced more of the same with Marquez still boxing superbly to just edge both rounds over Pacquiao who was now looking for the big punch to end the fight early.
Early in round seven there was an accidental clash of heads and both fighters sustained cuts to their right eyes although Marquez’s was more noticeable at first. Pacquiao landed some big shots in round seven as he again looked for the early finish over Marquez. The damage to Pacquiao’s right eye was made worse by Marquez in round eight as he repeatedly targeted it with his superior jab whilst Pacquiao remained the stronger of the two and continued to land with the bigger, more powerful shots. The right eye of Marquez was now giving cause for concern and the fight was briefly stopped in round nine so the ringside doctor could take a closer look at it but he saw nothing to prevent the fight from continuing and the fight was waved on.
Pacquiao was starting to have more success now and arguably won the next three rounds with his fearsome punching power over Marquez. The final round was a good one for both fighters but Marquez clearly won the twelfth with a superb display of boxing skill and at this point I had scored the fight a win for Marquez 114 – 115 but the judges saw the fight slightly different and Pacquiao won on a close split decision with scores of 112-115, 115-112, and 114-113. There were a few rounds that were so close they could have gone either way but the early knock down in round three gave Pacquiao the edge over the twelve rounds in the judge’s eyes. Either way this was great fight and I for one would definitely like to see a third fight between them before the year is out if it can be made.
Judges score cards: 112-115, 115-112, and 114-113 in favour of Manny Pacquiao.
WBO Featherweight Champion Steven Luevano successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision over Terdsak Jandaeng on the under card with an excellent display of boxing skill. The only low point of the fight for Luevano came in the fourth round when he was knocked down with a big left from Jandaeng but he immediately got back up and appeared to knock Jandaeng down but it was ruled a slip. The judges score cards were a true reflection of this fight but it was still entertaining to watch.
Judges score cards: 118-109, 119-109, and 119-109 all in favour of Steven Luevano.