Boxer Juan Manuel Marquez finally got his revenge on eight-time champion Manny Pacquaio Saturday, knocking the iconic fighter out cold at the end of the sixth round.
Marquez won a historical bout against Pacquaio Saturday night at MGM's Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas after previously losing three matches against the star he contends were rightfully his victories.
The great Filipino, a world champion at eight weights, held his own with Marquez for the majority of the fight. Until Marquez surprised Pacquaio in the sixth, the event had been an evenly matched battle. Each had been knocked down once, Pacquiao the recipient of a roundhouse right in the third round and Marquez receiving a short hook that staggered him in the fifth.
Marquez entered the sixth round with cut on his face, bleeding from at least two places. Pacquiao saw opportunity, went for the kill, and actually had Marquez struggling up against the ropes with just five records to remaining in the round, leading his opponent by three points across the board. With just one second left though, Marquez sank his whole being into a right-handed haymaker, connecting precisely with Pacquaio's nose. The champion collapsed under the ropes of his corner like dead weight.
"I got hit by a punch I never saw," Pacquiao said of the final knockout.
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said, "After he got knocked down in the third, he was fine, in charge. But then he got careless," reported Huffington Post.
Marquez said, "I knew, after I knocked him down in the third, that he would be going for the knockout. I knew I could get knocked out any time.
"But I also knew, when I knocked him down in the third, that I could knock him out."
"It was the perfect punch," he added.
Marquez's punch knocked the pro into the last decade; Pacquiao hadn't been stopped in a fight since 1999 in Thailand when he was a 112-pounder. The athlete took several minutes to come around before being led to his stool in the corner of the ring.
Pacquiao was taken to the hospital for a precautionary brain scan, then went to his hotel suite, where he ate with wife Jinkee and his entourage and watched a replay of the fight to see what went wrong.
"We need to look at the fight and I need to look at Manny," insisted Roach. "I want to be sure he is fine and I will be able to tell. I know him."
"If I like what I see he will fight, if I don't then he will retire," promised Roach.
"I said if he is back in the gym and I see signs of him declining I'll tell him to retire, but if I don't see that I won't tell him to retire," Roach said. "I'd love to get a rematch, but is that the best move right away? Should we try him out in a softer fight first? There is a lot of things we have to think about. It's very complicated, and it's not going to be overnight."
While Pacquaio's return to boxing is currently uncertain, the fighter echoed the sentiment of his coach.
"If you give us a chance, we'll fight again," Pacquiao said. "I was just starting to feel confident and then I got careless."
Even with his loss, Pacquaio took home in excess of $26 million, and Marquez collected as much as $10 million for the win.
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