By Don Donatello
Many boxers, trainers, and their promoters will employ the crying game after a loss. It’ part of the game. The crying is meant to misdirect the fans into thinking that their fighter did not legitimately lose the fight. Because prize fighting is to attract the paying fans, hence, the name, a boxer must build and maintain his fan base so he can economically gain as a fighter.
The biggest way for a boxer to lose his fan base is by losing a fight. The bigger the defeat, the more of his fan base that will abandon his ship. A close loss on the other hand will hurt his marketability, particularly the casual boxing fan, but he probably will keep most of his fan base. But a loss is still a loss and it will affect the fighter’s marketability, in most cases. So the crying game is employed to assuage the stigma of a loss.
The fight will have to be a close fight for the crying game to have the desired effect. Crying robbery when a fighter clearly lost just makes that fighter look like a fool, in that case, he will likely hurt his fan base even more.
Before the internet, before recorded media, the crying game was very effective. After all, there was no video of the fight to be scrutinized by the public. But today there are video recorders, the Internet, YouTube, and other media outlets to watch the fight in question.
With that, I challenge those who scored the Marquez/Pacquiao 3 fight for Marquez. On what basis did Marquez win that fight on November 12? For those who favor Pacquiao in a win, they have the punch stat numbers to show. CompuBox tally 176 punches landed for Manny Pacquiao and only 138 for Juan Manuel Marquez. It also shows that Pacquiao clearly inflicted more damage on his opponent. All three official judges unanimously agreed that Marquez did not beat Pacquiao.
Pro Marquez fans will counter that they don’t have the confidence in the numbers presented by CompuBox. Well then, they should provide the number that they can legitimately present as the true stats. As of this writing, I see none from writers and bloggers from Mexico, Europe, Philippines, the USA or anywhere on the globe providing those numbers that favors Marquez.
In some instances, the argument for a win on the side of the fighter that landed less punches is the power and effectiveness of the shots that did land for the losing fighter. But that argument is used when the losing fighter is known to be the harder puncher of the two combatants. Pro Pacquiao wins this argument. Manny Pacquiao is definitely the much harder puncher of the two. Juan Manuel Marquez’s face is a visibly telling sign of the power and clean shots that Manny landed.
Visible cuts, bruises, and swelling is a the signature on who scored the most effective punches. Pacquiao’s visible marks on his face was only the cut on his brow that was the result of a head butt shown on replay. And of course a small cut on his inner lip. Marquez was knotted with lumps and bruises on his face, nose, eye brows, forehead and the side of his head.
I heard some pro Marquez fans claiming that certain fighters bruise easier than others. That is true, some fighter do bruise more than others. But it fails when it is applied to Marquez. Marquez is historically not a bruiser, or bruise easier than Pacquiao. Look at their two previous fights, both fighters were bruised and cut in those fights. Pacquiao fans surely win out on this argument too.
PHOTOS FROM PACQUIAO VS MARQUEZ 1 SHOWING BOTH FIGHTERS WITH SWELLING
PHOTOS FROM PACQUIAO VS MARQUEZ 3 SHOWING JUAN MANUEL WITH A VERY SWOLLEN FACE AND PACQUIAO WITHOUT SWELLING
So tell me, why did Marquez win again? Provide the numbers to counter CompuBox’s numbers. The video is available if you care to look and do the footwork to get a hold of one. I recorded the fight on my DVR. I am sure there are many pro Marquez that are in possession of a DVR.
Some Marquez supporters are basing their argument on former boxers scoring the fight for Marquez like Oscar De La Hoya, Erik Morales, writers, celebrities, and others. On what basis are these former boxers more qualified to judge a fight. Did these former boxers have a better seat in the house than the judges, how many fights did these former fighters judge in the past. Are the judges better than Oscar and Erik at fighting? So why would these former boxers have more credibility at judging a fight than a professional judge with years of judging championship boxing? Not only did the judges correctly score the fight, the CompuBox backs up their score. Did Oscar and Erik have a concrete tally with pencil and paper on hand per round like the judges? Or did they just go by feel and emotion like so many others did. Judges are not high fiving anyone, carrying on a conversation, checking their email, eating during the fight. As those activities can distract and even influence their judgement of the fight.
Let’s take out the biased opinion of the boxer’s fans. So let the professional judges do the judging. And the winner is Manny Pacquiao. According to who? According to the most qualified and experienced people who judge fights for a living. Any opinion, be it ringside reporters, fans, athletes does not have the ability, training, and credibility of a professionally trained judge with years of judging championship boxing.
Let’s be clear about something regarding how a fight is judged in the USA. Traditionally, all being equal, judges tend to favor the aggressor, the fighter initiating the fight, the one chasing the other. Are we clear on that? When a round is very close and there is no clear winner, the judges will give the benefit of the doubt to the aggressor an example is Tito Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya — De La Hoya dominated the opening rounds with ease but, believing he had the fight won already, started running from Trinidad, giving the last rounds away. The benefit of the doubt is also given to the busier fighter who throws more punches. Another fact about US judges that most people don’t know is that the Champion is also given the benefit of the doubt if there is no clear winner of the round. How many of the fans present at the Pacquiao/Marquez fight were aware of those factors in regards to how a judge scores a round?
There were only six rounds that were unanimous in the scoring of rounds for either fighter, three rounds for Juan Manuel Marquez, and three rounds for Manny Pacquiao. There were six rounds where the judges split in their scoring. In all six rounds, two out of three judges scored a 10-9 round for Manny. A round where the judges’ scores are not unanimous, it indicates a close round that could be scored for either fighter.
Round 1
Robert Hoyle Marquez :9 Pacquiao: 10
Dave Moretti Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 2
Robert Hoyle Marquez: 9 Pacquiao:10
Dave Moretti Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 3
Robert Hoyle Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Dave Moretti Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 4
Robert Hoyle Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Dave Moretti Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Round 5
Robert Hoyle Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Dave Moretti Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Round 6
Robert Hoyle Marquez:9 Pacquiao: 10
Dave Moretti Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 7
Robert Hoyle Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Dave Moretti Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Round 8
Robert Hoyle Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Dave Moretti Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 9
Robert Hoyle Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Dave Moretti Marquez:9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao:10
Round 10
Robert Hoyle Marquez:10 Pacquiao:9
Dave Moretti Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 11
Robert Hoyle Marquez:9 Pacquiao: 10
Dave Moretti Marquez: 10 Pacquiao: 9
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez: 9 Pacquiao: 10
Round 12
Robert Hoyle Marquez:9 Pacquiao: 10
Dave Moretti Marquez:9 Pacquiao: 10
Glenn Trowbridge Marquez:10 Pacquiao: 9
Unanimous Rounds For Marquez
Rounds: 4, 5, 7
Unanimous Rounds For Pacquiao
Rounds: 1, 3, 6,
Split Rounds
2, 8, 9, 10 ,11, 12
Round 2:
Hoyle: Pacquiao
Moretti: Marquez
Trowbridge: Pacquiao
Pacquiao 2-1
Round 8:
Hoyle: Marquez
Moretti: Pacquiao
Trowbridge: Pacquiao
Pacquiao 2-1
Round 9:
Hoyle: Marquez
Moretti: Pacquiao
Trowbridge: Pacquiao
Pacquiao 2-1
Round 10:
Hoyle: Marquez
Moretti: Pacquiao
Trowbridge: Pacquiao
Pacquiao 2-1
Round 11:
Hoyle: Pacquiao
Moretti: Marquez
Trowbridge: Pacquiao
Pacquiao 2-1
Round 12:
Hoyle: Pacquiao
Moretti: Pacquiao
Trowbridge: Marquez
Pacquiao 2-1
In those rounds where the judges did not agree unanimously on who won the round, it is clearly indicated that the official judges correctly gave the benefit of the doubt to the Champion when the rounds could have gone either way. Pacquiao was the aggressor, threw more punches per round, and he is the Champion. A challenger must clearly take the title from the champion in boxing. A challenger must clearly win the round to win that round. According to the scorecard of the three judges, there were six rounds that could have gone either way. In those six rounds of 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, judge Trowbridge and Moretti, gave 4 out of 6 to Manny Pacquiao. Judge Robert Hoyle evenly split those six rounds at three a piece. Judge Hoyle has the least experience of the three judges and scored the fight as a draw 114-114.
With that said, I ask this, on what basis did Marquez beat Pacquiao?
Facts are that Pacquiao landed more punches 176 to Marquez’s 138. It is visibly apparent that Pacquiao inflicted the more damaging and telling blows. Marquez was knotted with lumps and bruises while Pacquiao’s only visible damage was a cut above his eye that was officially ruled from a clash of heads. The best seat and vantage point to watch the fight belongs to the three judges.
Part II: Real Robbery With Proof And Numbers: Floyd Mayweather vs. Jose Luis Castillo . . . .To be continued
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