Manny Pacquiao Beats Marquez: Did He Fake the Fight to Get Floyd Mayweather Next

Manny Pacquiao improved his overall win total to 54 wins by barely scraping by with a majority decision against Juan Manuel Marquez in an otherwise uneventful fight on Saturday night.

Marquez countered and stood his ground the whole fight, yet Pacquiao seemed more defensive than offensive. This is something we do not normally see in Pacquiao.

Pacquiao started slowly against Shane Mosley this past May, but that was in recognition that Mosley was one of the hardest punchers of our time.

But once Mosley turned out to be too reluctant to pull the trigger, Pacquiao unleashed hell upon him.

Now that hell may not have landed as much as some wanted because Mosley, for the first time in his life, ran for the majority of the fight. The lack of action this time around is mostly Pacquiao's fault.

Rather than engage in the sort of war that he and Marquez are known for, Pacquiao calmly felt his way through the fight with spurts of action as if to not risk being countered as much.

Marquez still countered Pacquiao a bit and even forced a lot of the action, but was Marquez really doing enough to keep Pacquiao off of him?

Pacquiao is stronger and faster now, so why didn't he blitz Marquez at least once?

He laid out some combinations and was met with some nice counters, but not enough to dissuade Pacquiao's usual onslaught unless Pacquiao is aiming for something bigger.

Could Pacquiao have turned down the action to suggest that a boxer would give him trouble and stir the pot further for a super-fight with the goal of getting one of the greatest fighters of this generation to finally face him?

Floyd Mayweather is a boxer with great countering ability that manages to far surpass even Marquez's.

By showing that he can still be "troubled" by Marquez, Pacquiao could be making way for a fight. Rumors have run rampant that Mayweather is afraid to fight Pacquiao or that he is at least reluctant.

Do I believe those rumors?

No.

But I do believe both sides have big enough egos and a deep enough hatred for each other to believe the other side doesn't want the fight.

Pacquiao's side includes Bob Arum, who's had a tumultuous business relationship with Mayweather that resulted in Mayweather buying out his contract.

Mayweather's request for random drug testing also doesn't help the matters. Pacquiao likely believes Mayweather is ducking, so a plan to make Marquez seem more competitive was possibly concocted.

Pacquiao may believe presenting a fight where he struggles against Marquez even now after Mayweather thoroughly thumped him might help draw Mayweather to the negotiating table.

Just think about it. Freddie Roach and Arum have called this Pacquiao's best training camp yet and still Pacquiao does worse this fight than he's supposed to?

Should Marquez be given a lot more credit? Yeah. He should, because he trained for this weight the right way and delivered a great performance. But seeing Pacquiao struggle against someone smaller and coming up to a weight he's not used to is a rather jarring sight.

Does this mean the proposed May 5 Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight is going down? I think so.