By Chris Williams: It’s bad when judges get it wrong and pick and stand by the losing horse. This is exactly what happened last weekend when WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and two of HBO’s analyst Jim Lampley and Harold Lederman saw Pacquiao as the winner over Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao didn’t look like a winner at the end of it, at least not in the minds of the boxing public.
The boxing world saw the fight differently, picking Marquez by an overwhelming decision. And thus boxing fans have nullified the judges’ decision for the Marquez-Pacquiao fight and rendered it an empty one without meaning. This is what happen when you’ve got judges or people going against the grain and choosing a fighter as the winner when the rest of the world sees it differently.
Now Pacquiao will certainly have a win in the record books for this fight for all of time, but it will be largely ignored and have an asterisk next to it in the minds of many in the boxing public similar to Gene Tunney’s long count win over Jack Dempsey in 1927.
The judges’ decision has put Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach in a bad position, because it makes them look more than a little silly as they continue to say that they deserved the win when the rest of the world shakes their head in sadness for them. It’s like they’re not getting it. When you’ve got so many people seeing Marquez as the winner, it puts Pacquiao and Roach in a position where they look silly trying to deny what actually happened in the ring. It’s like saying ‘Don’t believe what you see, believe what I’m saying.’ Boxing fans as a whole don’t see Pacquiao as the winner and it’s pathetic to see him and Roach claiming victory.
Comments are closed.