I re-watched Pac/JMM 2, and scored it a draw

I'm a major JMM fan who has grown to dislike Pac, based primarily on how obnoxious and ignorant his fans are. I know that's unfair, and that Pacquiao is a humble, charitable person who I should be rooting for. I thought Marquez was robbed in the rematch, but after scoring it with the volume off, and with no instant replay or rewinding or slow-mo, it was closer than I recalled. I scored it as follows:

Marquez Pacquiao
9 10
10 9
8 10
9 10
10 9
10 9
10 10 (lean towards Pacquiao)
10 9
10 10 (lean towards Marquez)
9 10
10 9
10 10 (lean towards Marquez)

Score: 115-115. If I wasn't allowed to score rds even, I'd have Marquez winning by 1 point.

Note that Marquez suffered greatly from an unintentional headbutt, which caused a horrible cut. But also note that Marquez landed significantly more low blows throughout the bout.

I don't think Marquez deserved to lose. 115-112 Pac is a terrible score. Giving Pacquiao the win isn't highway robbery as I've been proclaiming, it was just a slightly bad decision. If you're really biased for either side, watch the fight with the volume off, and score it as the judges would: no instant replay or slow-mo or rewind, and follow the referee's rulings.

I'm going to re-watch and score the first bout, though on first viewing I had Marquez winning wide.

 

Wow I watched rd 1 again, and it was damn close. Nothing happened for the first 2 minutes except Pac landed a few jabs and a right hook, and he threw more, so I had him ahead. Then Marquez landed a strong 1-2. The final minute was close, with Marquez landing those body punches in the final 30 seconds. Marquez threw a strong right hand near the bell, but I don't think it landed.

I don't think either guy took it clearly. I had been trying to see things from Pac's perspective and even give him the benefit of the doubt. On second viewing, 10-10rd, lean to Marquez. But again, judges don't have the luxury of multiple viewings.

Also remember that the judges don't know what's going to happen, so they can't trade close rounds. When you already know it goes the distance, you're tempted to split close rounds, to be fair. But when you're watching it live, you can only score each round individually. And judges are likely swayed by crowd reaction to punches, and the crowd was slightly pro Pac.

I'm not as excited for a 3rd bout as most of you are, since it will almost certainly take place at 140lbs. Marquez can still make 130lbs, the higher it goes the bigger his disadvantage. 135lbs would be fair, but I don't see Pac agreeing to it.

 

My main purpose was to understand how the judges could have scored the fight for Pac, and let it go. I still don't see it. I can accept a draw, but a Pac win still baffles me.

Among the gifs, that's pretty much how I remembered it live: Pac's left hands didn't hit hard, he did land some good right hands. His body shot was right on the belt, and Marquez's body punch DID land. It landed right under the elbow, maybe uppercutting the elbow so to speak. But the impact from the knuckle area of the glove was still felt on Pac's body.

And yes, the best punch of the round was Marquez's near the 1 minute mark, as I noted. The first time I gave the round to Pac as I thought he landed more, the second time I gave it to Marquez as I thought his were better overall. But I can understand how judges and fans could score that round either way.

 

To be fair, if you're going to scrutinize Marquez's punches, you have to point out that one of Pac's left hands missed Marquez's forehead by a millimeter, and one of the right hooks barely nicked him. He rolled with the right hook. I wouldn't count those as significant punches.

 

Thanks for posting the gifs pirategorilla, even with sound I see the same thing though. The fans were so amped they'd cheer anything, even the misses. Close round, can go either way. I also some Marquez hits that weren't in the gifs, though as was noted, all the shots were subtle compared to Marquez's big punch at the 1 minute mark.