Juan Manuel Marquez: What Happens When People Let "What If's" Eat at Them

Juan Manuel Marquez made his best case that he beat Many Pacquiao on Saturday night.  Of all their three fights, it was the closest and most controversial.

And yet he didn't get the decision.

It's arguable that he deserved it.  The case can be certainly made that he deserves a rematch.

 That doesn't matter to Marquez—he believes he's beat Pacquiao three times already and it eats at him.  This happens to be really dangerous.

It's more dangerous than any opponent he has ever faced.

Most boxers face the same problems as Marquez throughout their career.  They believe that they were robbed or they didn't get the paydays they deserved.

Sometimes this is warranted and justified.  There have been plenty of times in this sport that fighters have been mistreated and abused.  It has damaged lives and careers because of the selfish way it is regulated.

In life, however, very few things are fair.

Very few people get the fighting skills of Marquez.

Very few people get the opportunities Marquez has gotten.

Very few people have even gotten the paydays Marquez has received.

It's easy to let the negative things in life swallow you up if you let them, and it seems Marquez has.  Instead of focusing on his abilities and the experiences he has been richly given.

He not only focuses on this loss to Pacquiao, but on the ones before it.  Instead of thinking about his Hall of Fame career and the fact he can retire and never have to work again for the rest of his life, or continue fighting and still compete with the best in the world, he focuses on the slights against him.

Everyone knows someone like Marquez—someone who, like all of us, blew an opportunity at something or got it stolen from him/her.  Instead of moving on and pushing forward, the person gets trapped in life's pitfalls.

Marquez lost the fight on Saturday night.  It might have been the right call, it might not have been.  

And he might get a fourth fight.  He might not.

Even if he does it won't change what happened Saturday, and if he wins it won't change his attitude.

And that it truly tragic because Marquez has had a great career, and if he does retire it should be something to be celebrated.

Hopefully he remembers that, otherwise he will not only have lost the fight, but the war as well.