Round 1- Officially they’re 2-0-1 at this point, but I feel they should be 2-1 in favor of Pacquiao, and 2-0-1 in favor of Marquez without the knockdowns due to winning more rounds- their fights were just that close. They are both looking to land their lead left and rights. Pacquiao is using more head movement than usual and manages to slip a few shots from Marquez, and is able to get the round by tagging Marquez a few times with clean left hands.

Round 2- The jab of Pacquiao has been more effective within these first couple of rounds. Marquez is landing to the body on occasion, but Pacquiao is outlanding him by effectively potshotting with the left hand. Using a flicking jab as a set up, Pacquiao lands a hard left hand flush on Marquez, who stands up to it rather well despite it being the best shot of the round.

Round 3- Marquez starts to use some head movement himself, evading some lefts and jabs from Pacquiao. The left hook to the body is landing for Marquez, and so is the lead right at times. Setting it up with jabs to the body, a massive looping right sends Pacquiao crashing to the canvas. It’s impressive that Pacquiao gets up, especially as fast as he did. He takes a bit to recover, as Marquez is able to sneak some right hands through his guard. In the last 30 seconds, Pacquiao starts to shoot and land some left hands, and they close the round with another even and heated exchange. Great round for Marquez, who finally dropped Pacquiao for the first time in 39 rounds.

Round 4- They start taking turns landing lefts and rights. Like usual, Marquez is being patient and waiting until the time is right to land with his right hands. Pacquiao is dictating the pace, getting to the target more with his left hand, and seemingly having more success when combination punching. Both did good work in what was another excellent round, but Pacquiao definitely gets the nod in my opinion.

Round 5- They still are looking for openings to land with their respective power hands, and capitalizing when the opportunity provides itself. Pacquiao responds to a right hand of Marquez with a harder left hand that stumbles Marquez and makes his left glove touch the canvas in what is the fifth time he dropped him in four fights. Before he can even follow up, Pacquiao walks right into a big right hand from Marquez, but takes it well. They start to trade shots, and Pacquiao eventually gets the upperhand by buzzing Marquez with a sharp counter right hook. Like the warrior he is, Marquez tries to fight his way out of danger, but this allows Pacquiao to lead him into the ropes with his offense. Marquez is clearly hurt by the follow up, but is still fighting back despite taking some more clean left hands and right hooks in the corner before the bell. Excellent round for Pacquiao, and his best round of the fight. However, what would happen next round would make the boxing world stand still.

Round 6- The nose of Marquez is bleeding profusely. As Larry Merchant points out, he may have difficulty breathing due to his low activity in most of the round, as Pacquiao picks off left hands repeatedly to his head. Before the end of this round that Pacquiao is on his way to winning, Marquez catches him coming in with a colossol, perfectly-timed right hand on the chin flattens Pacquiao face-first right before the bell. Roy Jones exclaiming “He’s not getting up, Jim!” becomes one of boxing’s most famous lines instantly. Kenny Bayless doesn’t bother to finish the count. Marquez triumphantly celebrates after, as Pacquiao lies unconcious on the ring for minutes. After feeling injustice in his first three fights with Pacquiao, Marquez puts an end to their rivalry and gets revenge in the most perfect way possible, and finally secures his signature victory. As an extra bonus, he wins the WBO Champion of the Decade belt. Pacquiao was on fire this fight, but Marquez simply was better. He had practiced this single shot in training camp over and over. This is also the most impressive win anybody has over Pacquiao, in my opinion, as I feel he beat him closest to his prime (and arguably did two more times around that time frame) and in the best fashion. Fortunately, Pacquiao would make a good comeback with his career in the years to come. These two hall of fame warriors gave some of the best fights ever, with this one in particularly being the fight of the decade, and one of the best knockouts in history. These two could have fought 10 more times and I’d never get tired, they were just so evenly matched and made magic. While this victory cements them as 2-1-1 officially in favor of Pacquiao, I feel it makes them 2-2. They truly did finish this rivarly on 50/50 terms if you think about it: I scored the first fight for Pacquiao with Marquez winning more rounds; the judges were split for a draw. I scored the second fight for Pacquiao with them winning the same amount of rounds; the judges were split for Pacquiao. I scored the third fight for Marquez; the judges scored it for Pacquiao. The judges and I had Pacquiao ahead in the fourth fight, Marquez won by KO.