WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, left, takes a punch from Manny Pacquiao during their title fight Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, which Pacquiao won. After the bout the fighters’ promoters battled with words.
Monday, March 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Sun Calendar
Beyond the Sun
Two of boxing’s biggest names collided Saturday night at Mandalay Bay, exchanging stinging jabs and violent haymakers in an intense battle that had observers debating who got the better of it.
Oh yeah, and way before all that happened, Manny Pacquiao beat Juan Manuel Marquez in a pretty good 130-pound title fight.
The real action, not available on pay-per-view, came later when Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer and Top Rank’s Bob Arum clashed in a media room deep within the Events Center.
Taking advantage of a delay as the fighters had their mangled faces stitched up in their locker rooms, Schaefer, Marquez’s promoter, and Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, had it out on a variety of issues.
A dialogue-driven one-act play in contrast to Marquez and Pacquiao’s action-hero blockbuster, it made for equally compelling theater.
Schaefer and Arum sparred on whether Marquez and Pacquiao should fight again and if so, when; how much corruption exists in boxing and who’s responsible for it; and, ultimately, what it means to be a man.
The promoters’ night at the improv didn’t so much mar the main event as it served as an unexpected petit four to cap a satisfying evening in which Pacquiao won Marquez’s super featherweight title in a 12-round split decision destined to contend for fight of the year honors.
“There’s nothing wrong with boxing,” Arum said, exasperated at Camp Marquez’s suggestion of a conspiracy against it. “People judge. Some judge for you. Some judge against you. Be man enough to accept the verdict of the judges ... If you don’t like their decision, it’s too darn bad.”
Following up on Marquez’s comments in the ring that the judges “stole” his title with a “bad decision,” Schaefer appeared to question the integrity of at least one of the judges.
“I don’t want to cry about it,” Schaefer said, before proceeding to do just that. “But I do believe this fight should have gone to the champion, Juan Manuel Marquez.
“I find it strange that a week before the fight, suddenly a judge is being changed. And guess how this judge scored it? For Pacquiao.”
Arum shot back that judge Tom Miller was named to replace Dick Flaherty in the main event only because Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, volunteered the information that Flaherty is a family friend.
Flaherty ended up working Steven Luevano’s featherweight title victory against Terdsak Jandaeng on the undercard. Miller scored the headliner 114-113 for Pacquiao, the same result the Sun’s scorecard had. Duane Ford had it 115-112 for Pacquiao, and Jerry Roth scored it 115-112 for Marquez.
“If you wanted a scandal, there would have been a scandal,” Arum said. “Freddie Roach is to be commended for being a damn honest guy ...
“One thing everybody can agree on is it was a damn close fight, period. That’s it. There’s no skullduggery.”
Attempting to keep a straight face, and nearly succeeding, Arum said, “Have you ever seen me up here disputing a decision?”
Incredulous, Schaefer reminded Arum he was there the night in 2003 when Arum was so upset about Shane Mosley’s unanimous-decision victory against Oscar De La Hoya that he vowed to “retire” from the sport and suggested Nevada outlaw sports betting.
“Let me say how stupid I must have looked doing that,” Arum said.
As Arum was walking out of the arena late Saturday night, he was still muttering, “Now I know how stupid I sounded protesting decisions. If it was anything like the way they looked, I must have looked incredibly stupid.”
While Schaefer pushed for an immediate third fight between Marquez and Pacquiao — they fought to a 12-round draw in 2004 — Arum insisted quick rematches don’t make financial sense. He cited the buildup between fights that added to the allure of the classic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy.
Top Rank has reserved June 28 at Mandalay Bay as a tentative date for a WBC lightweight title fight between Pacquiao and David Diaz — a matchup Schaefer criticized as carrying limited appeal for boxing fans.
Marquez would be willing to fight Pacquiao at 135 pounds, Schaefer said, “as long as they don’t do it for the WBC belt,” dismissing the sanctioning body as “a few guys in the back room down in Mexico.”
Arum said that although sanctioning organizations aren’t perfect, neither is The Ring magazine, which is owned by Golden Boy and awards title belts.
“The idea it wouldn’t be for the WBC belt is total poppycock,” Arum said. “I am not satisfied with a magazine determining who champions are. I’m just not, particularly when I don’t have any ownership in the magazine.”
Regardless of the promoters’ sniping, Saturday’s closely fought, action-filled match should lead to a third meeting between Pacquiao and Marquez, probably at 135 pounds.
“You let the public see them fight some other people,” Arum said. “If you put some air between them, then a demand builds up. That’s how you maximize value.”
Don’t let too much air in, though. Marquez turns 35 in August and has been fighting professionally for 15 years.
Although rugged and relentless fighters from boxing’s lighter weight classes provide fans with plenty of thrills, they typically don’t age well.
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