LAS VEGAS — The idea of Manny Pacquiao being knocked out cold was shocking enough. The sight of him face down on the canvas, unresponsive even as bedlam broke out all around him, was positively frightening.
Mitt Romney saw it from his ringside seat. So did Pacquiao’s wife, who cried and tried to get in the ring to aid her downed husband.
Juan Manuel Marquez didn’t bother to look. He was already celebrating the knockout of a lifetime.
This was boxing at its brutal best, a toe-to-toe slugfest decided by fists instead of judges. Both fighters had been down, and both fighters were hurting in the sixth round when Marquez, with a second left in the round, threw a right hand off the ropes that could be felt all the way in the rafters of the MGM Grand arena.
But it was barely over when the cry arose for the two ever-so-willing fighters to do it again, for a fifth time.
“If you give us a chance, we’ll fight again,” Pacquiao said. “I was just starting to feel confident and then I got careless.”
The case could be made that Pacquiao was on the verge of a big victory himself when Marquez landed the punch that sent him falling face first on the canvas. He had come back from a third round knockdown to drop Marquez in the fifth and was landing big left hands that broke and bloodied the Mexican’s nose.
Both fighters had vowed to be more aggressive in their fourth meeting after their first three fights went the distance. Pacquiao paid the price when he tried to close the sixth round with a flurry, a big mistake against a counter puncher who drew him into his sights.
“I knew Manny could knock me out at any time,” Marquez said. “I threw the perfect punch.”
Pacquiao, who hadn’t been stopped in a fight since 1999 in Thailand when he was a
112-pounder, took several minutes to come around on the canvas before being led to his ring stool. He blew his nose and stared vacantly ahead as the pro-Marquez crowd of 16,348 screamed in excitement.
He was taken to the hospital for a precautionary brain scan, then went to his hotel suite, where he watched a replay of the fight with his wife Jinkee and his entourage to see what went wrong.
“Spoiler alert,” Pacquiao said as the fight played on the TV. “I don’t think you are going to like how this ends.”
Pacquiao had dropped Marquez four times in their first three fights, but Marquez had never put him down before he landed a big right hand in the third round for his first knockdown. The power was sure to raise questions about the new bulked-up physique Marquez has at the age of 39, which he said came from hard work under a strength conditioner who once provided steroids to Marion Jones and other track stars.
For Marquez, who believes he was robbed by the judges in his first three fights with Pacquiao, it was a career defining performance. The two fought to a draw eight years ago at 125 pounds and Pacquiao was awarded close decisions in the other two fights.
This time, Marquez was losing by one point on all three scorecards when he landed his big punch.
But it didn’t come down to decision this time against Pacquiao, 33, who lost a controversial decision in his last fight to Timothy Bradley and who many in boxing believe is showing the wear of 17 years in the ring.
One thing the stunning loss did do was scuttle, perhaps forever, what would have been the richest fight in boxing history. Any fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be fought for a lot less money and generate a lot less interest than if it had happened with Pacquiao still on his winning streak and still in his prime.
Pacquiao’s career might not be over. If post fight comments from both fighters and promoter Bob Arum were any indication, he and Marquez will more than likely fight for a fifth time. There’s too much money to be had and the fighter in Pacquiao will surely want a chance at redemption.
That will be a hot topic of discussion in the months ahead. For now, though, one thing is for sure.
On this night, one huge right hand from Marquez changed everything.
Sports, Pages 15 on 12/10/2012