Quijano: Styles makes fights aphorism holds true

Saturday, November 19, 2011

(Conclusion)

I DON’T know about you, but I always admired Manny Pacquiao because of the way he fought with unmitigated intensity and a sense of urgency unseen before, not only among Pinoy fighters but in all of boxing.

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Sure, winning was sweet and without those victories, he wouldn’t be what he is today without those seminal achievements.

But there was a certain wonder about the way he never got tired and how he dismantled all those formidable fistic legends.

For majority of the third Marquez fight, I thought Pacquiao fought the way he usually fights and so there’s no fair reason to denigrate his performance.

RESPECTING MARQUEZ. Rather, we should also give credit where it is due and what Juan Manuel Marquez did in that fight made him more successful than in their previous encounters.

First, he avoided the knockdowns, which plagued him in the first two fights, and subtracted precious points on the scorecards.

Second, he was consistently able to establish his game plan and do what he usually does best—time Pacquiao’s onslaughts and field accurate counters.

Casting biases aside, I have to give my props to Marquez as a fighter. Apparently, he has Manny’s number.

The stomp in the foot? Credit that to gamesmanship. That’s part of the game, in the same manner that Floyd Mayweather one-upped an unsuspecting Victor Ortiz.
I don’t hear the Pacquiao camp cyring boo-hoo. So shouldn’t we. That’s that.

NO ROBBERY. That being said, was Marquez’s performance enough to warrant a cry for robbery? Certainly not.

While I had him ahead by a point on my card, it was hardly the riveting, dominant performance that could justify claims there was a heist in Vegas.

As I explained in my previous column, many rounds were closely fought and if Marquez indeed edged most of them, he didn’t win them by much.

Certainly, both fighters had their moments and it all came down to a matter of preference. I don’t necessarily agree with the scoring, but at the end of the day I have to respect the opinions of the judges.

Ergo, Marquez’s demand to have their third fight declared a no-contest as a pre-condition to a fourth encounter is absolutely preposterous.

A Pernell Whitaker-Julio Chavez, it was not. Controversial, yes. Robbery? Hell, No.

FLOYD. Which brings me to my final point that it’s best to let this nasty Marquez business go and move on to prettier things. And by pretty, you know I am referring to none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Marquez and Pacquiao could probably fight 10 times and the results will always be too close to call. Sure, as a fight fan I always like a good, competitive fight and so on that call, I don’t mind a fourth one.

But if I were on Pacquiao’s management team, it doesn’t make sense to keep fighting an opponent who makes your fighter look bad, every single time. Again, styles make fights.

The “Pretty Boy” on the other hand presents an interesting challenge. A mountain yet to be conquered. A style yet to be mastered. An opponent yet to be defeated.

As if on cue, some fight scribes have already placed him atop the pound-for-pound rankings, which only fuels the need for a reckoning to take place soon.

But what about the fact that Marquez was beaten so handily by Mayweather?

There’s no transitive equation in boxing folks, where if A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A must be greater than C.

Floyd Jr. is indeed a better fighter than Marquez, but I think he’s not the same fighter he was a few years ago. Plus, unlike Marquez, he doesn’t do too well against southpaws.

He struggled with Demarcus Corley and I thought Zab Judah knocked him down in the second round.

To burnish his legacy, Pacquiao must beat Mayweather. When he does, all this controversy will become nothing more than a nasty footnote to pugilistic history.

LAST ROUNDS. Are on IBP-Cebu Province president Ferdinand “Bobong” Pepito and David Barnes who are celebrating their birthdays this week. Cheers!

(jingo_quijano@yahoo.com)