HE’S OUT! Juan Manuel Marquez stands over Manny Pacquiao after delivering the knockout punch (inset) during the sixth round of their welterweight bout last night. (Getty Images, AP (inset))
LAS VEGAS — With blood streaming down his broken nose and his face bloodied, Juan Manuel Marquez left no doubt whose hand would be raised after his fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.
One second before the bell sounded to end the sixth round, Marquez hit Pacquiao with a counter right hand flush on the face. The punch knocked the Filipino boxer out cold. Referee Kenny Bayless didn’t even bother to count, bringing an end to what had been a thrilling toe-to-toe slugfest.
Pacquiao, who lost his second straight fight, suffered a flash knock down in the second round, but looked like he regained control when he dropped Marquez to his gloves in the fifth. But at 2:59 of the sixth, Pacquiao threw a right hand that missed, clearing the opening for a right hand from Marquez that was thrown with all the energy and frustration collected over going 0-2-1 in his previous bout.
Pacquiao landed face forward and was motionless, and doctors rushed into the ring.
“I knew Manny could knock me out at any time. I threw the perfect punch,” Marquez said.
“As soon as I saw my first opening I hit him with a hard right hand,” Marquez said. “Once I knocked him down the first time I thought I could knock him out.”
Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs) was a 2-to-1 favorite, but Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs) had the majority of support from a sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden. After 36 close rounds, the 37th was just as close as the two fighters took up where they left off with Pacquiao forcing the action and Marquez doing the counter-punching.
“I got hit by a punch I didn’t see,” Pacquiao said. “The first knockdown was good shot. But I was able to come back and take control of the fight.”
Pacquiao seemed to getting the best of things in the third round when he landed two straight rights. But Marquez unleashed a right cross midway through the round, the dropped Pacquiao on his trunks. It marked the first time Pacquiao had been down in the four fights. Pacquiao popped back up and went toe-to-toe with Marquez as the crowd of 16,348 roared. Pacquiao used his aggression to re-establish himself in the fourth round, but Marquez landed two hard rights at the bell.
A sharp right-hand thrown by Pacquiao in the fifth round knocked Marquez off-balance enough to where his glove touched the canvas. Bayless appropriately ruled it a knock down. It was just the start of terrific fifth round. Pacquiao landed two hard rights that rocked Marquez. The Pacquiao assault broke Marquez’s nose and caused a mouse on the Mexican’s left eye.
But just before the bell to end the sixth round, Marquez breathing through his mouth landed the hard right to end it.
“Manny came back after the first knockdown and he was in charge,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said. “He just got a little too careless.”
Marquez was desperate to win the fourth meeting. They battled to a draw in 2004 after Marquez was dropped three times in the first round. In 2008, Pacquiao won a split decision, and last year, the Filipino captured a majority decision. Marquez of Mexico City believes he won all three fights, especially last year’s bout.
The controversy surrounding the previous three bouts, put last night’s judges — John Keane of England, Steve Weisfeld of New Jersey and Adalaide Byrd of Las Vegas — under a microscope. Their roles became even more magnified when the Nevada commission agreed to have them attend a rules meeting with the two camps after Friday’s weigh-in. Video from the meeting was shown during the pay-per-view telecast.
Top Rank president Todd DuBoef lobbied for the judges’ attendance to restore “consumer confidence” after the controversy from Pacquiao-Marquez III and Pacquiao’s fight last June against Timothy Bradley where he lost a controversial decision.
“Consumer confidence is important,” DuBeof said. “That’s what we live by.”
The judges got off the hook thanks to Marquez, who brought a sudden to and likely promptly talk of a fifth fight.
“A fifth fight why not. Have you seen a more exciting a more fight than you saw tonight,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said. “It had to be one of the most exciting fights of the year.”
Meanwhile on the undercard, Yuriorkis Gamboa remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Michael Farenas of the Philippines. Gamboa (22-0, 16 KOs) hadn’t fought since September 2011 and was making his debut under new boxing promoter Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent. Farenas (34-4-4, 26 KOs) was down in the second round, while Gamboa went down in the ninth. Also, Miguel Angel Vazquez of Mexico retained his IBF lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Mercito Gesta of San Diego.