March 29, 2008
The Great Debate
By Hermie Rivera
Boxing or what some call the Sweet Science is all about heart.
That’s why Manny Pacquiao eked out a well-deserved victory over Juan Manuel Marquez due largely to a ticker twice bigger than Mexico’s external debt.
End of discussion?
“Not quite” says an esteemed colleague John Chavez who insists otherwise: “While Pacquiao might possess a ticker twice the size of Mexico’s external debt, Marquez, at 34 years of age showcased an equally large heart twice the size of Manny Pacquiao’s stable of alleged mistresses.
In battling a prime “Pacman” possessing a five year youth advantage, the Mexico City counter-puncher fought gallantly picking himself up off the canvas in order to show the world that Mexican fighters are what truly drives the sport of boxing.
Unlike Pacquiao, Marquez is one of the many great fighters to come from a country that has redwood-like roots embedded within the sweet science.
While the bout between “Dinamita” and the Filipino legend has provided much fuel for controversy, you can’t take away from the future hall-of-famer who gave Manny all he could handle for every second of every round.
The fight itself was a beautiful specimen of counter-punching in Marquez and controlled aggression in Pacquiao.
For those spectators that favor the come forward style of a pressure fighter, they scored the bout for Pacquiao. For those that favor the tactical, but equally effective matador-type approach to boxing, they tended to favor the Mexican.
Being an aficionado of the sport, I appreciated the subtle effectiveness in Marquez’s ability to sneak his punches inside the slightest of openings as Manny showed a vast improvement in his defensive capabilities.
It was a magnificent display by “Dinamita” as he showed the world that there is more than one facet to Mexican prize fighting.
He showed that not only does the warrior blood pump fiercely through their veins but also that they are an extremely intelligent group of soldiers that can out-fight and out-think their opponents whoever they might be.
If you’ve been watching boxing for quite some time and genuinely have a firm grasp of the sport, you’d understand that Juan Manuel Marquez was the true victor in the March 15 rematch.
End of story.”
Wow! Son of a real gun!
Careful John, you might just re-ignite another Filipino-Spanish war with that kind of anti-Pinoy belligerency.
Ask Recah Trinidad.
Comments
April 13, 2008
al s. mendoza said:
john chavez writes well, no doubt about that. i respect his opinion choosing marquez the winner over pacquiao last march 16 (manila time). he was not alone. i have to give it to him in that aspect. as i’ve been saying all along, the result could have gone either way. i’ve given the fight myself to pacquiao simply because he knocked down marquez in the third, aside from staggering the mexican in the 10th. never once was pacquiao seriously hurt and put in trouble by marquez’s punches in the entire 12 rounds. that proved to be the biggest difference in the duel. while pacman sent dinamita down on his back once and almost to dreamland three rounds before the end of the bout, the mexican could not boast of a single big round that could have tilted the fight into his favor. while i also respect the verdict of one judge giving the fight to marquez, i couldn’t help but think how in the world was he able to come up with that 115-112 score favoring the mexican. was he really watching the pacquiao-marquez fight at the mandalay bay in las vegas, nevada? i hate to say this, but maybe, he was at manila bay in Manila, Philippines, that fateful night and not at mandalay bay, watching the Spanish Armada being sank by the Allied Forces under the baton of Gen. MacArthur…