By James Slater: Pound-for-Pound #1 Manny Pacquiao (or #2 according to a number of publications and web sites in light of his epic struggle with Juan Manuel Marquez – a fight fans are still arguing about), is back in Manila and he gave an interview with Eddie Alinea of Philboxing.com, during which he spoke about the third fight he and the Mexican great had on November 12th.
Still convinced he won the fight and was fully deserving of the majority verdict he picked up after the 12-rounds, 32-year-old Pac-Man argued that Marquez simply did not do enough to take the WBO welterweight title he was defending in Las Vegas.
“I believe that even before the 12-round bout was over , I was ahead and had won,” Pacquiao said. “What I can only report to our countrymen is I did my best under the circumstances to defend my crown and I succeeded – a factor which cannot be said of my opponent, who did nothing in the entire 12-rounds but run away, wait for me to attack and [then] counter-punch. You cannot win a world championship that way. If you want to become champion, you have to fight for it, earn it and win it. You cannot get it on a silver platter. To those who think the decision was wrong, I’d say get real – be a Filipino.”
Pacquiao’s loyal fans agree with their hero, but I still cannot change my mind: Marquez won hands down for me. Okay, “Dinamita” did do a lot of counter-punching, but that’s his game and always will be. No way would the 38-year-old have been “handed” the championship “on a silver platter” if the decision of the judges had gone to him. And what on earth does that “get real – be a Filipino” line mean?! Bottom line: Marquez outboxed, outclassed and out-thought Pacquiao in fight-three and was fully deserving of the points win that went to his rival; even if some of the rounds were close and hard to score.
Anyway, Pac-Man now moves on and looks ahead to his next fight. He told Philboxing.com that it will be “back to work now” (meaning his political duties) and that “nothing is definite yet as to who my next opponent will be.”
You can bet your life that if it is Marquez next, in fight IV, Pacquiao will again have a terribly frustrating, hard night’s work to look forward to.