BERT SUGAR'S POST-FIGHT ANALYSIS

by Bert Sugar

Four years in the making and, like one of those Cecil B. DeMille productions, it was an epic. Only this epic didn't need a DeMillean cast of thousands, it only needed two participants: Manny Pacquiao and Raul Manuel Marquez.

In their first epic battle four years ago Marquez staged one of the greatest comebacks in boxing history, getting off the canvas three times in the first round to fight his way back to a draw many thought he had on. This time, in what could be called "Son of Fight of the Year," he came back from a third-round knockdown to lose a decision that was thisclose--and again, many, including one judge, thought he had won.

Somehow you knew the fight would live up to its build-up from the moment the two entered the ring to the ovation of the sell-out crowd of 11,061 who drowned out ring announcer Michael Buffer's introductory words of ",,,and now the most famous phrase in boxing history (or so he said)...Let's get ready to rumble..."

And rumble they did as Marquez, using a newfound right-hand jab, kept Pacquiao off-balance and rocked him in the opening round. Throwing combinations and moving away from the ever-advancing Pacquiao, Marquez continued to dominate the "Pac Man" in the second, making Pacquiao miss time and again with his left-hand howitzer-it was almost a case of Pacquiao leading with his right, but when his left came aknocking, nobody was home, Marquez already having moved out of range.

The third began as the second had ended with Marquez moving in and out, landing combinations. Then, with about 20 seconds left in the round, as the two squared off in a close-quarters exchange, Pacquiao's devastating left finally found a home, driving Marquez to the canvas. But just as he had in their first fight, Marquez, almost as if he willed himself off the canvas, got back to his feet, ready to go back into battle. Only this time Pacquiao was all over him, driving him into the ropes where, just as the bell ending the round sounded, Pacquiao got in another dynamite-laden left, staggering Marquez.

As Pacquiao tried to press his advantage in the fourth, Marquez, fighting desperately to keep him off, slashed Pacquiao over his right eye. Momentarily blinded by the blood coming into his eye, Pacquiao slowed down his offensive attack and Marquez began connecting with combinations-thrown one-two-three punches at a time.

The ebb and flow of the battle continued with Marquez suffering a cut over his eye as a result of a head butt in the seventh and Marquez returning the favor by opening up Pacquiao's nasty cut in the eighth, then hurting Pacquiao to the body, leaving him wincing in pain.

But even though Pacquiao looked a little bit sloppy at times, lunging in and trying for the knockout, he still had that left hand at the ready and landed it in the ninth, hurting Marquez.

Coming down the stretch, the two continued to exchange bombs, almost with alternating currencies, first Pacquiao, then Marquez, with rarely a clinch in the carload. Still, it was Marquez throwing more punches and landing with a higher frequency.

By the twelfth, with both warriors bloodied but unbowed and the fight up for the taking, the two fought as if it were Round One. And finally, as the final bell rang and both fighters held their hands aloft in victory, the crowd stood in unison to give the two a well-earned ovation.

Now, after a few minutes of tabulating and re-tabulating the judges' scorecards, came the real "most famous phrase in boxing history": "Let's go to the scorecards." And with those (Judge Duane Ford, 115-112, Pacquiao; Judge Jerry Roth, 115-112, Marquez; and Judge Tom Miller, 114-113, Pacquiao), Manny Pacquiao won a split decision by one point, the margin of the knockdown in the third round.

Their two-fight series was over, there'll be no "trilogy" here with Pacquiao saying at the post-fight press conference, "This business is over." But for two epic battles these two lit up boxing's skies. And when it was all over, the score stood: one draw and one win for Pacquiao and two wins for boxing fans.

(NOTE: There were several slippages during the fight, each fighter slip-sliding over the sweat, blood and corner water from the previous seven bouts on the card. Why, oh why, do we subject these main event fighters to perhaps slide into a punch and, even worse, injury? Their slipping and sliding not only can alter the course of a fight but also jeopardize these million-dollars fighters. In other countries, like Germany, they change the ring mats before the main event, having the participants on the undercard all combine to peel back the old mat to expose a new one that has been placed underneath. Can't we do something like that, especially before a big fight like this? Don't they deserve that?)