Don't go back to Las Vegas, Manny!
"You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense."
AESCHYLUS
By Alex P. Vidal
If we truly love Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao and we want to preserve him as a national sports icon, we must start a nationwide campaign to convince him to retire now that he is still "ahead" by virtue of that face-saving 12-round unanimous decision win over Brandon Lee "Bam Bam" Rios in Macao last November 24.
Many of us are still probably overjoyed that Pacquiao "is back" after that lips-first flat fall disaster against Juan Manuel Marquez on December 8, 2012, but only few have realized that an "ambush" is waiting for him in his next fight if Top Rank's Bob Arum will bring him back to Las Vegas, the lion's den.
Aging Pacquiao will only be fed to the lions and he could suffer worse than the Marquez one-punch brutality that made many of his fanatics cry and run amuck in shame and disgust.
RICH
In Las Vegas, the rich will further enrich themselves, the tired and weary will further wear a crimson and exacerbate his physical deterioration. They will pit Pacquiao next against fighters who have studied and memorized Pacquiao's style; and, thus, they know how to avoid being drilled and bulldozed into submission like what Rios did. To survive the distance with Pacquiao was already a "victory" for an upstart like Rios and wily promoters love this scenario.
Pacquiao is still good; he has the speed of Don Quixote's windmills; the congressman tots a menacing stoppage ledger; he can still land a tornado blow and rearrange a camel's ribcage, there is no doubt about it.
But he is on the way to the slammer and the tell tale signs are crystal clear: his knockout percentage has declined. The last time he scored a short cut win was four years ago or eight fights ago when he bludgeoned Miguel Angel Cotto in the 12th and final stanza for WBO welterweight jewels at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MEETING
Except for the fourth meeting against Marquez, all of Pacquiao's seven previous fights (5 wins, 1 KO loss to Marquez, 1 draw to Marquez) after wrecking Cotto lasted the distance.
"Pacquiao has lost his sting," observed an American analyst who had predicted a 9th round knockout win for Pacquiao against Rios.
The Rios victory was good for the pride of the country reeling from the aftershocks of super typhoon Yolanda, but it confirmed--more than anything else--that our pambansang kamao (national fist) was seemingly "tired" and now deserves to be shielded--or to put it bluntly, protected from dialectical materialism creeping the industry.
PRIZEFIGHTER
As a prizefighter, we will never hear religious Pacquiao squirm in protest that he is tired of disfiguring handsome faces; we can never hear him grumble "I quit" even if his work rate has ebbed and his kinetic energy has subsided. As long as Uncle Bob and the behemoth Top Rank promotion call the shots, Pacquiao will continue to break bones and damage retinas in the square jungle.
Still fresh in our memory was the shellacking he inflicted on unbeaten Timothy Bradley on June 9, 2012 in defense of Pacquiao's WBO belt in Las Vegas.
If a pugilist couldn't nail a KO win, Pacquiao's performance that night was an excellent paragon of why boxing is touted as sweet science. And yet, they robbed him and committed the biggest injustice in history of Marquess of Queensberry by handing to Bradley the WBO bauble on a barbaric split decision.
BOOKIES
Las Vegas bookies "punished" Pacquiao for his failure to score knockouts in his last four assignments before facing Bradley thus Bradley became the beneficiary of that "mortal sin."
The unanimous decision victory in Macao certainly failed to convince them once more as they were baying for a knockout so they could give Pacquiao a red carpet welcome in Las Vegas, the mecca of boxing and entertainment, when Arum, et al uncork the imprimatur for Pacquiao to duke it out against either Bradley or Mayweather next.
Now that Pacquiao failed to deliver in Macao, we fear another "punishment" reminiscent of the Bradley boondoggle. We must save our hero. He must retire now!
Marquez's nightmare with Vegas
didn't start with Pacquiao, Bradley
"There's ups and downs with boxing, layoffs are part of the sport and they can either help or hurt a guy."
Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
By Alex P. Vidal
Juan Manuel Marquez was always complaining that he could not win a decision in Las Vegas. He has to knock out his opponent to eke out a victory, he grumbled. He thought there was a grand conspiracy to rob him of victory and a racial undertone would always smear his disgust and pessimistic attitude.
Nobody gave credence to his self-serving braggadocio when Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs) protested his 2008 and 2011 points defeats to Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs) in super featherweight and welterweight world title fisticuffs.
The 40-year-old Mexican legend also smelled rat in his 2004 split draw with Pacquiao for WBA super featherweight and IBF featherweight titles. All three encounters that ended in 12 rounds were held in Las Vegas.
On several occasions, I personally interviewed Marquez and he had no qualms telling all and sundry that he was cheated in all the three Pacquiao duels "each time the fight was held in (Las) Vegas" even if Top Rank big boss Bob Arum was in the hearing distance.
LOSER
For fight fans, Marquez was a sore loser who packs not only dynamites in both fists, but truckloads of excuses and alibis for his sourgraping spree.
Until he shocked the world on December 8, 2012 with a smashing 6th round KO win over Pacquiao also in Las Vegas. And the world started to hold him with high esteem and respect.
When he was edged by Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs), 115-113, 116-112, 113-115 (split verdict) for WBO welterweight bauble at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas last October 12, Marquez was back to his old habit: sourgraping.
“Once again we came prepared to give a good fight. I think the people saw a good performance and the judges did it again. We are happy with the performance. When you come to Vegas you need to get a knockout. The judges are more dangerous than the opponents. I want to thank all the Mexican people who came,” Marquez rued.
NIGHTMARE
Marquez's nightmare with judges actually did not start when he yielded two of the three controversial decisions to Pacquiao. In fact, Las Vegas judges have been fair to Marquez, who was awarded with a unanimous decision when he defended his WBO NABO featherweight crown against Alfred Kotey on Nov. 22, 1997. In his first trip to Las Vegas on December 3, 1994, he didn't need the judges' cooperation when he disposed of Israel Gonzalez in the 4th round of an 8-rounder tiff.
Nevada state as a whole was kind and fair to him as he was also given another unanimous verdict against Darryl Pinckney in a 10-round non-title scraper on Oct. 19, 1996.
FRUSTRATION
Marquez's frustration in Las Vegas began when he was outboxed and outshuttled by Freddie Norwood for WBA featherweight championship. After 12 rounds, all the three judges scored a unanimous decision in favor of Norwood: Artur Ellensohn, 112-117; Stanley Christodoulou, 111-115; Duane Ford 112-114.
After the Norwood debacle, Marquez rebounded with 13 straight victories (seven in Nevada) only to be slowed down by a 12-round split draw in a failed bid to grab Pacquiao's WBA and IBF belts on May 8, 2004. Despite being downed three times, Marquez managed to give Pacquiao hell and escaped defeat. Scores: John Stewart, 110-115; Burt A. Clements, 113-113; Guy Jutras, 115-110.
The draw left a bad taste in Marquez's mouth and his love-hate relationship with Nevada judges started to roll and escalate. In his frustration, he wanted to bring a loaded pistol in the ring to ensure that his rival will be brought out on a stretcher so the judges will have no more job to perform.
Incidentally, when he lost by unanimous decision to Chris John for WBA featherweight title in Kutai Kartanegara, Indonesia on March 4, 2006, Marquez did not blame the judges. He also shut up his mouth when Floyd Mayweather Jr. toyed with him and never gave him a chance to win a single round en route to a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision loss on September 19, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
There was no need to blame the judges as the score sheets spoke for themselves: Burt A. Clements, 107-120; Dave Moretti, 108-119; Bill Lerch, 109-118.
