Stanky Franky

The punch Manny Pacquiao will never forget in his career as a boxer. One perfect right hand, thrown with a second left in round six, finally answered eight years of arguments that judges could never settle. Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez had already shared three brutal, inconclusive wars: a controversial draw in 2004 (three first-round knockdowns), a split decision for Pacquiao in 2008, and a majority decision for Pacquiao in 2011 that many felt Márquez deserved. Billed as the “Fight of the Decade,” their fourth meeting on 8 December 2012 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas carried a specially created WBO “Champion of the Decade” belt—the only strap on the line after Pacquiao had lost his WBO welterweight title earlier that year. Pre-fight hype was intense. Pacquiao entered as a heavy favourite, promising a decisive finish; Márquez, long feeling robbed, insisted he would finally get the result he believed he had earned. Both delivered. Márquez dropped Pacquiao in the third with a looping right. Pacquiao answered by flooring Márquez in a savage fifth round. Then, with the Mexican bloodied and the round almost over, Pacquiao lunged in. Márquez slipped and detonated a short, perfectly timed counter right to the chin. Pacquiao collapsed face-first, out cold. Post-fight, Márquez was elated and vindicated. Pacquiao, checked in hospital, offered no excuses and congratulated his rival. Freddie Roach called it a great knockout, not a lucky punch, while noting Pacquiao had simply got careless while hunting the finish. The Ring named it Fight and Knockout of the Year; the rivalry ended on the terms Márquez had long demanded—with clarity no scorecard could provide. xitter.cf/SpoortyMatterz/status/…