Boxing: Pacquiao records controversial victory

Disconsolate Marquez says he was robbed again.

LAS VEGAS: Filipino star Manny Pacquiao edged Juan Manuel Marquez by a majority decision, stretching his winning streak to 15 fights but leaving his Mexican foe screaming robbery for a third time.

Adding more controversy to an already heated rivalry, two judges handed Pacquiao the 12-round victory by margins of 116-112 and 115-113 while the third scored the fight a 114-114 draw.

After the 12th round ended, Marquez raised his right hand in a sign of victory while Pacquiao simply trudged back to his corner with a downward gaze, only for both men to learn moments later that the verdict was another story.

“It was clear to me that I won,” said Pacquiao. “I clearly won.”

Marquez was already seething before the latest loss, saying he had beaten Pacquiao in a 2004 fight that was called a draw and a 2008 rematch which went to the Asian southpaw by one point on one judge’s scorecard.

“It was a robbery. They robbed me again,” said Marquez. “It’s hard when you’re fighting your rival and three judges too.”

The defeat was so bitter that it left Marquez pondering retirement.

“The result of this fight has now left me thinking of retirement,” he said. “We wanted the judges to score this fight the way it happened and not how they scored it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th,  2011.