By Babatis Banda: For a while Pacquiao has been rated a top P4P fighter. In my eyes, he may still be. However, what happened in there with Juan Manuel Marquez is not ordinary. People may point to this and that as the major reason why it happened the way it did. The fact of the matter is that it did happen, and in the manner that it happened.
Everybody was in agreement, that Pacquiao needed to shut Marquez up once and for all about how he was previously robbed, for whatever number of times. We were also in agreement that Marquez, to have an upper hand on Pacquiao, he needed to knock Pacquiao out and how this was going to happen, nobody knew and it remained just a distant thought. The most important agreement was that this fourth fight was the real decider. This fight would draw the line on who has the edge over the other. It was also unanimously agreed that there would be no excuses to be tolerated from either camps for non-performance. Assurances were thus never in short supply from the fighters and their teams.
After the arguably nastiest knock-out of our era, a few shameful things popped up. Some fanatical supporters pointed to Marquez as the unworthy winner, for in their eyes, only somebody on PEDs could do that. This is in pure contrast of the arguments they have advanced in support of Manny’s refusal to take the test when challenged to do so by the Mayweathers. We have also heard the same old argument, that Pacquiao was not fully focused because of the other out of ring activities. Some have contributed Manny’s humiliating knock-down to carelessness against Marquez.
Whatever is the reason, it happened and in the manner that it did. The real issue is that, the knock out the world witnessed was not a laughing matter. Pacquiao could have gotten seriously hurt or could have even died in the ring. The worrying thing is that Arum seems interested in the money only and other issues seem secondary. Arum is now talking Pacquiao/Marquez 5. In my thoughts, other than the money it would generate, there is nothing else to the fight.
We can never rule out another Knock out loss for Pacquiao. That third round knockdown in their 4th meeting was a serious warning of the things to come, and now we know Marquez is capable of stopping Pacquiao. The real problem is that Marquez now knows he can stop Pacquiao, and Pacquiao is now aware he can be stopped. What remains now is a pure play of the minds.
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