Hey, boxing and Pacquiao fans. He'll be fine. It is better to be KO'ed (and for Manny, doctors have said he is okay after performing CT scans on him), or to have some swells, cuts and bruises, than receiving consecutive blows to the head and not being KO'ed at all.
Now, check this out first, will you. This is a good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali. Oh, and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineal_championship#Records.
Ali is still alive and he's still considered a legend, even though he lost his last two fights, and 3 of his last 4. He retired at the age of 38. Manny is just 33. Marquez is 39. De La Hoya retired at 35/36. I think Manny can and he should still fight. It's not greed. This is what he does. If you're good at something and you're not yet really at retirement age, two setbacks shouldn't keep you back. Especially not for winners, warriors, champions. Which winners and champions never lost? Despite these losses, he is still good at boxing, and in fact still even one of the best at it. In boxing years, he's still young. His record is now 54-5-2 (Wins-Losses-Draws), while Marquez is 55-6-1. Manny has lost only 3 since 1999. Marquez lost 4 since 2006. Or let's just say he lost 3 since 2006, counting out the fight with Mayweather who Manny hasn't yet fought.
Should he fight Marquez again? I think it should be obvious that it's not his decision to make. If given the opportunity -- I think he'll take it. And he should. But obviously he has to be better prepared the next time around. The thing is, Manny won 2 times but only via decision over Marquez. Marquez won only 1 time, but via KO over Manny. Assuming Marquez isn't retiring yet, I'd say they're even now. Just as Pacquiao gave Marquez a chance, despite his 2 losses, maybe Marquez should give Manny a chance despite his KO loss. It would be great for Marquez to KO Pacquiao again (and thereby cementing his place as "better than the best"). That said, I think Pacquiao has to fight an opponent other than Marquez first, just to check on himself, especially that focus seems to be a problem on Pacquiao's side as others have assumed. So yeah, he has to prove that he still belongs up there. And then Marquez. And then decide from thereon what's next. One step at a time. His loss before this Marquez fight is a loss, but come on, it was a highly controversial one that even Bradley himself almost admitted to. Let me repeat it again: Manny has lost only 3 since 1999 while Marquez has lost 4 since 2006.
But now, being somewhat a boxing (and generally a fight / martial arts) fan myself, I wouldn't want to comment on his personal life. To me, this had nothing to do with his religion nor his other personal choices. To me, his loss only had something to do with his training more properly for this fight. He trained very well, and it was obvious in his dominance of Marquez in the 5th and most of the 6th rounds. He didn't win fights because he's Filipino nor did he become an 8-division champion because of his last name (case in point: Bobby Pacquiao). I think he also didn't lose because of his personal decisions. I think even with his personal decisions, he could have still won. To me, he wins fights because of hard work and preparation, and having some of the best guys around to train and coach him. Being prepared means a lot of things, including focus and calm (i.e. perhaps through his prayers and faith), but again, to me, I just look at the training, game plan, and the preparation, and I hope that both boxers execute.
You see, this is boxing. You risk yourself to get hit so that you can hit. How boring is it to watch one or both boxers trying to stay safe (e.g. Clottey, Bradley), right? To me, "safe boxers" are not boxers. Now those are the people you want to label as greedy. But hey, they're smart, too. The risk didn't pay out for Manny this time, but it could have gone the other way. It obviously didn't, and Marquez was obviously well prepared himself. In fact, he was probably better prepared than the Pacquiao camp had thought. That was probably the single mistake that cost them this match. To me, it has not cost him his career. In a boxing match between two highly skilled and practically equally skilled competitors, and who were both game and not playing safe, all it takes is one mistake. And one punch. I never thought Pacquiao nor Marquez are better than the other; I only thought, before this fight, that Pacquiao won 2 fights against Marquez. That's it. Let that speak for itself. Now with a KO versus 2 decision wins, I think the score is pretty much even. But it's also up to Marquez if they would still even consider a 5th match. And to tell you the truth, I was not really surprised by the KO on Manny, and not that I expected it. The way the fight was going, I thought it was inevitable, but from which side, I wasn't sure. I liked the fight. It was a great fight. It was a better fight for Manny than his last one. It was, to me, the best fight he was in since his 2006 loss to Morales (which was amidst some controversies as well). He was going for it. And so was Marquez. And Marquez's style won this time. So he did so by something that Pacquiao has not yet done to him. And all my congratulations to him and his camp, and his fans.
Now, if there's one thing I've learned, there are so many haters in this world. And many haters are suddenly made when their unrealistic expectations are not met. I'm not one of those. I was and still am a boxing/fight fan, and a Manny Pacquiao (the boxer, the proud Filipino) fan. 8-division world champion with ten titles? Read this again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineal_championship#Records.
UPDATE: More similar reading: http://www.michaeldsellers.com/blog/2012/12/09/in-an-epic-defeat-manny-pac/
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