Manny Pacquiao is widely considered to be one of the best to ever pick up the gloves and it is just one of his wars that made him a fan favorite – one that happened on this day 17 years ago.
Manny Pacquiao first became known by many after his brutal stoppage win over Jorge Julio, with the commentators saying at the time: “He can punch, he can take a punch, he’s aggressive and he loves to fight.”
Their words rang true throughout Pac-Man’s entire career, even when, at the age of 40, the Filipino star defeated Keith Thurman to become the oldest welterweight champion ever. Pacquiao famously named his dog after Thurman following their fight.
Though Pacquiao was involved in many rivalries, including the famous Erik Morales trilogy, it was on this day in 2008 that Pacquiao fought in what would become the second fight of four with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Manny Pacquiao edged a decision over Juan Manuel Marquez 17 years ago today
Pacquiao first encountered Marquez, who famously drank his own urine to prepare for Floyd Mayweather, in 2004, where the pair fought to a controversial draw as Marquez defended his WBA featherweight title.
According to BoxRec, this fight was only scored a draw due to one judge, Burt Clements scoring the first round, in which Marquez was dropped three times, a 10-7 round, because he didn’t realize he could score it as 10-6.
Clements said: “I just screwed up.”
But four years later Pacquiao had his chance to right this wrong, this time for Marquez’ WBC super-featherweight title.
Though he didn’t drop him as many times this time round, Pac-Man did send Marquez to the canvas in round three and fought his way to a split decision victory over the Mexican.
The fight reportedly generated 400,000 PPV buys, according to HBO’s Mark Taffet, BoxRec claim.
Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez’s rivalry continued for two more fights – but who won?
Following the first outing being ruled a draw, and the second a split decision victory for Pacquiao, the pair hoped to conclude their rivalry in a third fight, set for 2011.
This time it was Pacquiao defending the title, which was the WBO welterweight championship. Marquez, at the time, boasted a record of 53-5-1, whilst Pacquiao’s record was almost the same, at 53-3-2.
The fight was another close one, with Pacquiao claiming victory by majority decision, making him 2-0 up in the pair’s feud.
Just one year later the quadrilogy would see its final instalment, as Pacquiao hoped to bounce back from a split decision loss to Tim Bradley, who recently mocked Jared Anderson.
This fight did not go Pacquiao’s way and saw the Filipino go to the canvas twice on his way to being stopped emphatically in the sixth round.