MARQUEZ RISES, EQUALS PACQUIAO TNT FOR TIE

Incredibly, Juan Manuel Marquez rose from three knockdowns in the first round by Manny Pacquiao and matched the latter’s punishment to the finish, saving his WBA.IBF featherweight titles on a controversial 12-round draw Saturday before 7,129 roaring spectators in the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

These superb warriors both came in at 125, one pound under the division limit, but they never stopped punching like heavyweights every step of the way.

Marquez and Pacquiao viciously gave as good as they got in ultimate warfare that left three ringside judges in full dispute in their decisions.

Going in, this solid international match-up was well-hyped as boxings potential Fight of The Year and HBO’s telecast verified that candidacy is still intact even though the house was stunned when Michael Buffer announced the judges’ conflicting official scoring.

Guy Jutras, a veteran of previous Vegas title bouts from Montreal, had it 115-110 for Marquez, 30, of Mexico City, MX, in his second title defense.

John Steward, another Nevada regular from New Jersey, had the same score but in favor of Pacquiao, 25, Kibawe, Philippines, who is lauded by Asians as the uncrowned featherweight ruler.

Burt Clements, out of Reno, NV. completed the panel and created a non-corrected controversy when his 113-113 ballot sealed a draw and broke the hearts of both valiant adversaries who felt they had won.

Ironically, the snafu that would change the decision occurred in the first round when Marquez was on the verge of being stopped on three knockdowns. Jutras and Steward correctly scored it 10-6 but deadline writers on a tight schedule had not heard Clements had erred in tabbing the round 10-7.

Colleague Kevin Iole of the Las Vegas Review-Journal managed see Clements before the final media recap, the latter declaring, “I dropped the ball.”

Clements was under the impression the Nevada State Athletic Commission didn’t want its officials to score 10-6. However, Marc Ratner, the NSAC’s executive director, had always said it was up to the judges’ discretion.

“It used to be that a three-knockdown round was a 10-7. I take full responsibility, because if I had been aware of it, I would have scored the round 10-6. I feel badly because plain and simple, I dropped the ball.”

Clements told the Review-Journal. “You can make a lot of arguments that it was a very close fight. But that’s immaterial. The fact is I dropped the ball. However, I immediately gave the card to Marc and said you don’t want 10-6, right?”

Had the scoring issue never developed in the first round, Pacquiao would have had a 114-112 ballot from Clements and won the WBA.IBF crowns on a split decision.

Arguably the greatest new talent in the Philippines
since the legendary Flash Elorde of the ‘50s, Pacquiao still could have erased the dead heat if he won the 12th round. Marquez, who bled from the nose over the route, had the same idea and the punchers were still giving as good as they got.

The exchange in the 11th and 12th rounds were torrid with Marquez’s combinations to the head and body giving him the nod on the cards of Jutras and Clements.

Stewart felt the flashy Filipino southpaw was accurate in the 11th heat, but the champion was stronger in the final three-minutes.

For the partisan crowd who didn’t see it live, it will certainly get the message when HBO finds a time slot for the tape replay. Who wants to waste time thinking heavyweights when the sport has authentic but smaller giants with big power and Gibraltar chins?

Co-promoters Bob Arum and Murad Muhammad
took good care of their respective products with Marquez, earning $500,000 and Pacquiao collecting $650,000, but were they going to have time to earn it when the first bell rang?

At mid-ring, Marquez was going for the body while the dancing Pacquiao was aiming that TNT right hand. But the imported challenger had Marquez on the floor at 1:35 of the first round with a straight left. Marquez managed to beat referee Joe Cortez’s count at “eight” but only seconds alter rising, the arena shook when the gritty Mexican was down again from another left. It was another “eight count’ from Cortez. The third knockdown put Marquez flat on his back and after another “eight count”; he had been down 24 seconds
and survived when the bell rang.

Marquez needed all of the second round to have his glassy eyes clearing but when he drove Pacquiao back with a right to the jaw late in the third round, it seemed clear nobody was going home early.

Later in the media recap, Marquez would admit he
got “a little too careless to early.

“Pacquiao got me with a solid right in the first round. The strategy was to box very carefully, but I didn’t do that. I was disoriented after the first round, but once I
felt my head was clearing, I began scoring with solid combinations to the head and body. I cut his right eye in the fifth and after the seventh round, I felt good that I had erased the deficit of that wild first round. I feel I was really dominating in the middle rounds. He never hurt me again. I didn’t expect the first round knockdowns, but if a fighter is in good condition, he can survive it.”

Pacquiao, coming in off his sensational TKO over Marco Antonio Barrera in November, was emotionally disappointed over the judges’ scoring in a fight he felt he won.

“I believe I won this fight tonight. I’m very proud of it. Marquez is a great fighter. I feel I won at least eight rounds but I hurt my left hand, probably in the first round, maybe in the second and that’s why I didn’t finish him. I started getting some cramps in my left leg in the fifth round and it affected my balance. I feel that when Marquez went down, at least for the third time, I really think the referee should have stopped the fight. My left hand was swollen and I couldn’t punch with my usual combinations.”

Freddie Roach, one of the best fight trainers in anybody’s ring, contends Pacquiao is right in resenting finishing on the short end of the judges’ overall scoring.

“I’ll admit there were some rounds where the scoring was close and could have gone either way. Imagine the Canadian judger (Jutras) with that 115-110
voting for Marquez. He gave Manny only the first and eighth rounds. My guy had Marquez down three times in the first round and that has to be a 10-6 round without even thinking about it. Having hurt his left hand and getting those cramps in the fifth round kept Manny from fighting like he can. He never complained, just sucked it up. I told him he had to win the last round.”

Muhammad, who handles Pacquiao, was also speaking for Arum, who promotes Marquez, when he said “there definitely should be a rematch because
these men are two great warriors.”

Marquez’s record moved to 42-2-1, 33 KOs while
Pacquiao’s log is 38-2-2, 29 KOs.

COTTO STAYS ON ROLL IN DECISIONING D’NOU

Undefeated Miguel Cotto, the brightest new star out of Puerto Rico, stayed that way in the MGM semi-final when he took the more experienced Lovemore D’Nou’s punches enroot to a unanimous 12-round decision.

Cotto, 140, Caguas P.R., had his first victory going this distance in his fifth defense of his WBC International, WBA Federation, and IBF eliminator
titles at 140 pounds.

Moving his resume to 20-0, 16 KOs, Cotto was. pleased with his performance, adding “This is the kind of wins I need if I am going to step up to the next level. I’m pleased with my performance against such a tough veteran like N'Dou, who punches very hard with that chopping right hand. He likes to fight head to head and that’s okay by me.

In the scoring of Las Vegas-based judges, Glenn Trowbridge had it 117-111, Dalby Shirley saw it 115-113 and Carol Castellano’s tab was 116-112, all for the 23-year-old Cotto.

N'Dou was coming off losing a close 12-round decision to Sharmba Mitchell for the IBF junior welter-weight interim crown Feb.7 in Atlantic City, his resume dipping to 37-7, 23 KOs Cotto earned the biggest purse of his four-year career at $200,000 while D’Nou picked up $42,500 in his first Las Vegas showing.

Cotto told the media he “went to work with great ambition and great condition”. It worked from the opening round to the final bell when the popular Puerto Rican dominated the willing D’Nou with a combination of hooks to the head and body.

(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas and an exclusive contributor to Ringsports.com).