Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Pac-Man's Loss to Marquez Ends Any Chance of Superfight

When Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Manny Pacquiao in the sixth round of Saturday night’s fight, any hope that Floyd Mayweather would ever fight Pac-Man was lost.

The Filipino’s credibility and tenuous reputation as the world’s second-best fighter—after Money Mayweather—was taken when he was rocked by a right-handed counter-punch that left him unconscious for several minutes.

In his last fight, it was widely believed that Pacquiao was on the receiving end of a screw job by the judge, a highly controversial split decision against Timothy Bradley. The 33-year-old hardly suffered any fallout from such a ridiculous outcome, but his loss on Saturday to Dinamita changed everything.

Considering the last three times Pac-Man and Marquez stepped into the ring it has gone to the judges and resulted in unsatisfying decisions in favor of Pacquiao (and a draw the first time the two clashed).

Dinamita decided that he wasn’t going to let anyone else decide his luck in Las Vegas this weekend, and completely changed his legacy with one fateful counterpunch.

As soon as Marquez delivered that KO punch, it was clear he was the better fighter in all three of the previous contests. The Mexican altered his own perception and brought down Pac-Man from superhuman status to someone that many will now feel was more lucky than good at times.

Speaking of lucky, no one ended up in a better situation than Mayweather.

The 35-year-old American does not need to fight Pac-Man anymore, an opponent he is clearly wary of after dancing around a potential megafight for years now.

He’s going to be remembered as the best boxer of this generation, simply for his 43-0 record, compared to Pacquiao’s pockmarked 54-5-2 career.

Unless Money makes a critical error in the twilight of his career, he’s going to retire undefeated and join the pantheon of elite boxers. Pac-Man will fall just short, as that KO punch by Marquez will wind up doing much more damage to the Filipino’s reputation than it did to his face.

We expect the chance of a potential Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight just dropped from low to barely any, and it’s unlikely these two greats will ever step into the ring now that Pacquiao sealed his fate as the second-best.

It feels cheap, but Mayweather winds up on top in this rivalry, thanks to a huge assist from Dinamita.