It's nice having your own blog. You can be politically incorrect to bait people to come read what you have to say.
It is 1am and I have to be at work in five hours but I know I won't sleep. I am reliving Round 6 of Pacquiao/Marquez IV:
YES! YES! 10 MORE SECONDS AND MARQUEZ IS FINISHED. ONLY 5 SECONDS LEFT IN THE ROUND. THAT'S IT MANNY. BACK HIM INTO THE CORNER!
GET OUT OF THE WAY, REF!
ROUND OV-...WAIT? WHAT'S GOING ON?
WHY IS MANNY ON THE CANVAS? WHY IS HE FACE DOWN?
OH MY GOD! MANNY PACQUIAO HAD A HEART ATTACK!
I was in denial for another few minutes until I saw the replay and recognized brilliance in motion.
A few rounds earlier, Marquez floored Pacquiao with the same brilliance. Marquez crouched and unleashed his right hand. Given his body position and trajectory, Pacquiao expected a right cross to his body. It's really only a matter of tilting to the left and raising your shoulder to change that right cross into an overhand right which is what Marquez did at the last moment. Pacquiao's hands were down to protect his diaphragm (a classic mistake that instinct forces us to make). Now there was nothing between Marquez's right and Pacquiao's temple and nothing between Pacquiao and the floor a second later.
Four years ago, Oscar de la Hoya felt the sting of Manny Pacquiao's laser left hand. It seemingly teleported into the skulls of Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito a few fights later. Marquez had the answer for Pacquiao's left before Pacquiao fought de la Hoya-
....a simple tilt to the right followed by a counter right cross.
From Pacquiao's view, if Marquez's head is noon, then 9 o'clock is where his head will be when he feels Pacquiao's left is coming. Pacquiao's left cross would fly effortlessly over Marquez's (and later Tim Bradley's) head and Pacquiao would have to eat a counter for his troubles.
For the past year I've shouted at Manny to "Aim for 9 o'clock!" but he just does not listen through our family's Vizeo. Prepare yourself for irony.
Marquez was not moving his head like he did in his previous fight with Pacquiao. He was eating left hands and bits of his own nose as it was oozing down his face by the end of Round 6. Marquez backed against the ropes. I yell, "Aim for 9 o'clock".
...and boy did he. A perfectly straight, full force, shoulder turned in, weight of his entire body behind it, left cross landed at 9 o'clock with the precision of a Patriot missle.............except Marquez's chin wasn't there.
Marquez wasn't moving his head tonight because he wasn't planning on dodging Pacquiao's left. Tonight his head was at 3 o'clock where it was guiding another overhand right that plowed through Pacquiao's face.
The Perfect Ending
4 fights. 42 rounds. 6 knockdowns. 2 Hall of Fame careers. How the boxing community expected anything less than this climax I'll never know.
It's said that within every aging fighter is one last moment of glory. I hope Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez retire. I want my last image of the two of them to be the one I saw tonight:
Two legends concentrating mind, body, and soul into a single punch knowing full well that only one will land.
* UPDATE: I'm seeing in other reports that it was a right hand that Pacquiao was countered on a missed right hand. Oh woe is me. I'll have to fire up the DVR and watch it again.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Who Knew This Was Such Hard Work?
Wow, an entire year since I've written anything on this blog.
So what happened with boxing? It got a little disappointing. Let's organize this by person.
Bob Arum
At eleventy billion years old, Bob feels the need to generate revenue for short term gain rather than drum up interest in the sport with intriguing fights. It was fun seeing karma bite him in the ass with undefeated Juan Manuel Lopez losing his cherry to Orlando Salido. There goes that Gamboa mini-megafight. Then Yuriorkis Gamboa boycotts the fight with Brandon Rios which is fair considering Rios' scale is always off by 5lbs.
Manny Pacquiao
He peaked! Sure he accomplished a lot but it seems he's at a point where his talent can't take him any further. He is not the professor of boxing that Juan Manuel Marquez is. Pacquiao can't outclass an opponent with anything but his physical gifts. No shame though. Talent alone got him about 4 legitimate titles.
Floyd Mayweather
Floyd is the entertaining person, but Pacquiao is the entertaining fighter. A 50-50 split of a potential purse is not out of the question. Where does Floyd find the gall to call Pacquiao a $10 million fighter? By the way Floyd, she'll never marry you until you put away that prenup. In the meantime, Vegas' strip club revenue plummets.
The State of Texas
Even the rocks are racist in Texas (anyone who understands that is my friend). The Texas State Athletic Commission is chaired by a man named Dickie Cole. His son, Lawrence, (who in the past has prematurely given out judge's scorecards before the bout ended, held Chris John's arms while Rocky Juarez's kept swinging, and will be a bigger contributor to Antonio Margarito's Parkinson's than Pacquiao and Cotto) is given every major bout in the state. How can this go wrong? In the past 4 months alone, a disqualification due to inattentive officials and Cloud/Campillo scorecards. If you're ever boxing in Texas, just remember- KNOCKOUT.
The Ring Magazine
It started with some appealing format changes. More pictures. An amateur section. A women's section. Card Girl of the Month. Then in the timespan of one issue, Nigel Collins was out as editor-in-chief. Michael Rosenthal was in. Doug Fischer was pretty much given the entire RingTV website. William Detloff, out. Eric Raskin, out. Ivan Goldman, gone. Jeff Ryan, done. Joseph Santoquito, goodbye. Jabba the Hutt Emeritus, Jim Bagg, retired. Now these were pretty much the only boxing writers in the English-speaking who are old enough to have danced at a disco. The Ring Magazine retired them overnight. Asking about it on the periodical's Facebook page earned me a block. Hey Ring Magazine, why don't you and every girl I dated go have a party and laugh about it!
So what happened with boxing? It got a little disappointing. Let's organize this by person.
Bob Arum
At eleventy billion years old, Bob feels the need to generate revenue for short term gain rather than drum up interest in the sport with intriguing fights. It was fun seeing karma bite him in the ass with undefeated Juan Manuel Lopez losing his cherry to Orlando Salido. There goes that Gamboa mini-megafight. Then Yuriorkis Gamboa boycotts the fight with Brandon Rios which is fair considering Rios' scale is always off by 5lbs.
Manny Pacquiao
He peaked! Sure he accomplished a lot but it seems he's at a point where his talent can't take him any further. He is not the professor of boxing that Juan Manuel Marquez is. Pacquiao can't outclass an opponent with anything but his physical gifts. No shame though. Talent alone got him about 4 legitimate titles.
Floyd Mayweather
Floyd is the entertaining person, but Pacquiao is the entertaining fighter. A 50-50 split of a potential purse is not out of the question. Where does Floyd find the gall to call Pacquiao a $10 million fighter? By the way Floyd, she'll never marry you until you put away that prenup. In the meantime, Vegas' strip club revenue plummets.
The State of Texas
Even the rocks are racist in Texas (anyone who understands that is my friend). The Texas State Athletic Commission is chaired by a man named Dickie Cole. His son, Lawrence, (who in the past has prematurely given out judge's scorecards before the bout ended, held Chris John's arms while Rocky Juarez's kept swinging, and will be a bigger contributor to Antonio Margarito's Parkinson's than Pacquiao and Cotto) is given every major bout in the state. How can this go wrong? In the past 4 months alone, a disqualification due to inattentive officials and Cloud/Campillo scorecards. If you're ever boxing in Texas, just remember- KNOCKOUT.
The Ring Magazine
It started with some appealing format changes. More pictures. An amateur section. A women's section. Card Girl of the Month. Then in the timespan of one issue, Nigel Collins was out as editor-in-chief. Michael Rosenthal was in. Doug Fischer was pretty much given the entire RingTV website. William Detloff, out. Eric Raskin, out. Ivan Goldman, gone. Jeff Ryan, done. Joseph Santoquito, goodbye. Jabba the Hutt Emeritus, Jim Bagg, retired. Now these were pretty much the only boxing writers in the English-speaking who are old enough to have danced at a disco. The Ring Magazine retired them overnight. Asking about it on the periodical's Facebook page earned me a block. Hey Ring Magazine, why don't you and every girl I dated go have a party and laugh about it!
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