ALA boxers split on fight result

CEBU, Philippines - ALA Boxing Gym fighters gave contrasting views on the outcome of the third encounter between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez yesterday at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao retained his WBO welterweight title with a tightly contested majority decision over his Mexican nemesis. Judge Glenn Trowbridge penned it 116-112 and Dave Moretti had it 115-113 all for Pacquiao, while Robert Hoyle scored it a 114-114 draw.

While two-division world champion Donnie "Ahas" Nietes and reigning WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight titlist AJ "Bazooka" Banal affirmed the verdict of the judges, the likes of WBO Intercontinental flyweight title-holder Milan “El Metodico” Melindo and retired boxing great Z "The Dream" Gorres felt Marquez should have won the match.

"Pacquiao was the aggressive fighter. He kept on attacking but Marquez refused to exchange punches," said Nietes. "Pacquiao was leading and the judges were right on their decision."

"Pacquiao won, there's no doubt about that. He fought aggressively while Marquez was so boring this time and not entertaining as he used to be during their first two bouts. He refused to fight toe-to-toe with Manny," said Banal.

ALA Stable chief trainer Edito Villamor concurred with the standpoint of his wards.

"I even thought it would be unanimous decision for Pacquiao," said the former two-time world challenger. "He showed to the world that he' really the champion because he initiated the fight. Being the challenger, Marquez should be the aggressor but he did not lead."

But Melindo and Gorres think otherwise.

"In my personal opinion, Marquez should have been the winner. Pacquiao was the aggressive fighter, but Marquez landed more solid shots all throughout [the 12-round contest]," said Melindo.

Gorres, who miraculously survived a life-threatening head injury during a fight two years ago that ended his fistic career, offered the same reason. "Marquez connected the clearer punches."

Even Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista, the current IBF International featherweight champiopn, is confused as to which camp to side.

"It's a little bit confusing. If I was one of the judges, I would have scored it a draw," said Bautista, who is set to face unbeaten Mexican knockout artist Miguel Mendoza in the main event of the "Pinoy Pride X" on December 10 at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

For Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) chief Sylvan "Jack" Jakosalem, a diehard boxing fanatic, the decision was beyond question.

"No matter what the arguments are, the decision was correct. Even in the HBO scorecard that we did not see on the Top Rank feed, HBO had Pacquiao ahead. As expected, Marquez was ready to do the fight of his lifetime," said Jakosalem.

"From the judges point of view, Pacquiao really outpointed Marquez in the total number of punches, jabs and power punches as statistics show. Another important thing the judges saw was that Pacquiao was the clear aggressor while Marquez mostly counter-punches. But a great counter-puncher as he is known to be, especially against a southpaw, which is why Pacquiao had a hard time in all three fights. This fight was like their first two fights minus the knockdowns," added the former City councilor. (FREEMAN)