Pacquiao vs. Marquez: Why Judges Got It Right in Awarding Fight to Pac-Man

When Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao and Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez fought for the third time in their epic trilogy Saturday night, Marquez was undoubtedly the more impressive fighter. Marquez's frustrating style all but neutralized Pacquiao's quickness and punching power.

For much of the early part of the fight Marquez looked to be in control, and he certainly was never hurt by Pacquiao as the fight wore on. Despite all that, Pacquiao was awarded a majority-decision victory by the judges who scored the fight 114-114, 115-113, 116-112 in favor of Pac-Man.

The crowd was flabbergasted by the decision and voiced its displeasure quite clearly. Marquez clearly thought he once again got the raw end of the deal against Pacquiao as he stormed out of the ring after his second controversial loss to Pac-Man. Despite all of that, the judges actually got this one right.

Like it or not, boxing isn't about which fighter looks better throughout the match. Boxing is about awarding the fighter who wins the most rounds the victory. Marquez decisively won his rounds early in the fight, and while Pacquiao seemed unbalanced all night long, he won five of the last six rounds on my scorecard.

While I wouldn't say Marquez became complacent in the later rounds, Pacquiao was simply rewarded for being more aggressive. If you accept that Pac-Man took five of the final six rounds, then it certainly isn't difficult to find two Pacquiao rounds earlier in the fight.

I think a draw would have sufficed as a fair decision, but the judge who scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao was spot on in my opinion. Like it or not, while Marquez forced Pacquiao into his type of fight and was the more effective boxer, Pacquiao did enough to scrape together seven rounds.

It may not have been pretty from Pacquiao's point of view, and this decision will certainly be questioned for years to come, but Pac-Man did what great fighters do by rallying late and stringing together several rounds in a row in the latter stages.

Pacquiao was far from dominant and he most definitely fell into Marquez's trap, but all he had to do was be the aggressor in the majority of the rounds, and thanks to his late-fight surge, he did just that. Scoring a boxing fight is subjective, but the judges could only go based off what they saw.

A fight isn't scored as one ever-lasting round, but if it was, then Marquez was the clear winner. Based on three-minute increments, though, Pacquiao did just enough. I do question the judge who scored the fight 116-112 in favor of Pacquiao a bit, but many of the rounds were so close that they could have gone either way.

If not for the controversy of the first two fights between Pacquiao and Marquez, I don't think there would be this much outrage over the decision. The fact is, though, that many feel Marquez has gotten the short end of the stick in this rivalry.

While it is hard to argue against Marquez deserving to win at least one of the fights, the latest one simply wasn't it. You have to applaud Marquez's strategy, but perhaps he was too arrogant to realize that he had to be more aggressive.

Marquez didn't get the benefit of the doubt on the scorecards in the first two fights, but he maintained that he should have won both fights. Out of that arrogance, Marquez believed he didn't need to change anything in order to win.

In the end, though, Marquez didn't remove all doubt and he most certainly wasn't the one coming forward in the later rounds. I think Marquez was protecting what he thought was a big lead, and that ultimately cost him once again in the end.