By Rasheed Catapang: You are only as good as your last job. By that measure, Manny Pacquiao is nowhere good enough to beat Floyd Mayweather. Might be a good thing though. That might just be the catalyst that will finally get us Floyd to be in the same ring with Pacquiao.

Pacquiao fought life-and-death with Marquez three times now. In there latest tug-of-war featuring the so called new and improved Pacquiao (to whom even the gods of fear and loathing will come nowhere near), Marquez simply did what he does best and shrugged off the soothsayers’ doomsday prediction about him with a true blue mexican sneer. Pacquiao’s most recent opponents might have been bad-ass goliaths at one time or another. But they were pre-ordained to fall – succumbing to Pacquiao and his myth before they even touched gloves with him. And while those masochist masquerading as boxers pay homage to a sadist god, embracing the beating and the accompanying wealth that goes with it, Marquez would have none of that. (save for the money of course which, needless to say, everybody clearly wants).

Manny Pacquiao might have been a natural disaster waiting to happen to any other boxer. But Marquez is not just any other boxer. He is a tuning fork to Pacquiao’s earthquake. Marquez vibrates to it, attuned to the destructive force that could not touch him.

The master craftsmen honed his craft to perfection. His art by now above nature. Pacquiao’s blietzkrieg movements had been nullified. The triumph of art over power was plain beautiful.

Training. Preparation. Muscle memory. Pain. Will power that defies age and odds enabled Marquez to withstood Pacquiao.

Not power pellets (Memo to Mayweather: that’s the arcade Pacman).

Marquez officially lost. But Pacquiao didn’t actually win. There is victory in defeat and Marquez once more has to revel in it.

The true winner of that fight of course was dancing with the stars. Mayweather finally has the de-facto win over Pacquiao. But he had lose something more in the process – a legacy defining win over an invincible Pacquiao. After Marquez made the “little fella” human again, Mayweather denied himself of greatness by waiting on the sidelines for far too long.

Manny Pacquiao looks diminished in his last fight. Here’s to hoping the snake is willing to come out in the open to finally get his bite.

Here’s your superbowl, boxing! And it’s cold now.