Saturday, November 12, 2011

Pacquiao - Marquez III

Being the only boxing fan left in the world, I actually ordered the Pacquiao - Marquez PPV tonight.
And it worked. Score one for boxing (since the only other time I had attempted to order PPV was for UFC and it didn't work).

Anyways, the televised under card was very entertaining.
Luis Cruz vs. Juan Carlos Burgos
This went to decision with Burgos' well deserved win. There was a lot of good back and forth but Burgos seemed to clearly win.

Mike Alvarado vs. Breidis Prescott
Prescott was up by a large margin by the end of the 5th round it was clear Prescott was going to win if it went to cards. (Prescott was the only man to defeat my boy Amir Khan by knocking him down 54-seconds in the 1st round - so he has a lot of power). However, as the fight wore on, Alvarado was making a great come back. By the 10th (and final) round, it was clear Prescott simply needed to hang on, BUT HE COULDN'T!! The ref had to stop the fight with 90-seconds left in the fight. All Prescott had to do was last through the final round. Alvarado hit Prescott with 2 punishing upper cuts.

Timothy Bradley vs. Joel Casamayor
This was the first time I saw Bradley fight and I was unimpressed. I simply didn't enjoy how Bradley fought. He was clearly better then Casamayor (considering all of the fouls); it just seemed the fight was less then inspiring. It could have been because Bradley has not fought since January because of legal issues. In any case, Casamayor's corner threw in the towel in the 8th round as Bradley simply would have continued to beat up Casamayor. I know Bradley wants to fight Pacquiao next; however, he isn't even the best fighter in his division (KHANNNN!), so I'm hoping Bradley fights Khan next!

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez
The fight was seemed very timid. There was a lot of nervous energy and both fighters were sort of 'feeling each other out'. There were several rounds that *could* have went either way. It went judges decision and Pacquiao was declared the winner (114-114, 115-113, 116-112). People are shouting that the match was fixed and all of that garbage; however, Marquez's corner in the 11th and 12th rounds told him that he was winning! That is a cardinal sin! If you are not the champion, you NEED to take the championship away and not just 'play safe'. There should have been far more engagement and Marquez should have attempted to control more of the fight instead of boxing defensively to 'protect the lead' that he apparently never had! Complain all you want, but Marquez should have taken it to Pacquiao. Its Marquez's fault for letting up. Marquez has no one to blame but himself.