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.
