Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Editorial: Matter of perception
IT’S probably human nature.
In a fight that even experts described as “too close to call” and “could have gone either way” Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez griped about losing his WBC super featherweight crown to Filipino Manny Pacquiao.
Judge Jerry Roth scored it 115-112 for Marquez, Duane Ford 115-112 for Pacquiao while the third judge, Tom Miller, gave the match to Pacquiao by the slimmest of margins, 114-113.
The disparity in perception is best illustrated in the assessments of Roth and Ford, as they both scored it by bigger margins, but for different fighters.
Verbal war
Ideally, the verdict should have been accepted in keeping with the principle that judges are there precisely for situations like this: to put order in deciding the results of sports competitions.
But Team Marquez, including Marquez fans and possibly a good number of independent analysts, are claiming conspiracy, sparking a controversy in what was an entertaining, even if bloody, match.
The verbal exchange, though, still pales in comparison with the ferocity with which Filipino politicians contest every result of almost every election in the country.
This has given rise to the joke, painful but true, that nobody loses in our elections because the loser always claims they are victims of cheating.
Winning
Even if Marquez’s complaint pales in comparison with the antics of many Filipino politicians, the same basic thread ran through their posturing.
That is summed up in the line, popularized in a commercial, which reinforces questionable conduct in competitions: “Winning is not everything, it’s the only thing.”
But one advantage for sports competitions, like boxing, is that rematches can be had relatively easily, if boxers and promoters agree to it, and judges can be replaced on short notice.
And a boxer can win decisively by knocking an opponent out cold, which he is allowed to do per boxing rules, if he doesn’t want to lose by a controversial verdict.
In our political setup, however, whining election losers have to wait for years to get a rematch and members of the Commission on Elections can be kicked out only if impeached—ensuring the kind of political instability we see often.
