LAS VEGAS – Filipino congressman Manny Pacquiao nearly lost an important election Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden.
But it was an election in which he needed only two votes to win, and he got them. Two of the three judges at ringside gave Pacquiao the win in a 12-round decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.
The sold-out crowd — overwhelmingly Marquez supporters — cried election fraud and expressed their displeasure over the political process by throwing beer bottles and other projectiles toward the arena.
But their candidate simply didn’t run a strong enough campaign to defeat the incumbent.
There was no skullduggery at ringside. There may have been incompetence by judge Glenn Trowbridge, who scored eight rounds for Pacquiao and just four for Marquez.
But judge Robert Hoyle probably had it right when he called it a draw — six rounds for each fighter. Up close and personal at ringside, that was the way I scored the bout as well.
Judge Dave Moretti gave one more round to Pacquiao — a 7-5 round victory — and you could easily make that case.
If Moretti was in on some sort of political fix — or simply feeling pressure to ensure a Pacquiao victory and therefore future big paydays for Vegas from Pacquiao’s box office gold — why would he have Marquez ahead 3-2 in the first five rounds?
In close, indecisive rounds, judges typically will reward the aggressor. In the first two rounds of the fight, Pacquiao was the fighter moving forward, pressing what limited action there was. So he got the rounds — except from Moretti, who gave Marquez the second round — putting Marquez down at the polls early.
If you are outraged about the decision, you might want to save that outrage for the process that put Pacquiao in office in the first place — the process that his nemesis, Floyd Mayweather, has continued to raise questions about.
Mayweather has insisted that if they fight, Pacquiao would have to undergo strict drug-testing, wondering how a fighter who started his pro career at 106 pounds and fought much of his career as a bantamweight and featherweight can be faster and seemingly stronger after moving up to welterweight.
In a Sports Illustrated profile on Pacquiao, his trainer, Freddie Roach, had the same question when Pacquiao moved up to fight at 135 pounds.
“It was big,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if his power and speed would still be there.”
Roach wasn’t sure because it typically isn’t there.
Next time, when those in the crowd throw bottles at the ring to cry foul in a Pacquiao fight, they should include a few specimen cups as well. Save a few for Marquez, who at 38 years old moved up in weight with the help of a strength and conditioning coach with ties to the BALCO scandal.
Boxing, like politics, is a dirty business.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
