"I wanted Margarito to win. I mean my heart was with him and I thought he had a pretty good chance, but after Pacquiao cut him - I knew it was over. Manny is a gentleman, because he had Tony hurt in the 10th round and he could have finished him, but he let Tony survive. He showed his class and that is why he is the best. I am not ashamed to be on his list of victims because he is great."
--Marco Antonio Barrera (BoxingScene.com)
over 1 year ago
Scott Christ
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Love this. Classy statement.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
by Matt Miller on Nov 15, 2010 9:52 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I like what Barrera said. He finally let go of his bitterness.
As for as the statement about being a gentleman and not wanting to hurt Margarito when having him in trouble, Im not to fond of that. I like the Mike Tyson approach when it comes to having an opponent hurt.
But that’s just me………….
Manny didn’t finish Barrera off in their second fight, either, so I think MAB has more to what he’s saying than he might be letting on.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 15, 2010 11:45 PM EST up reply actions
I think Manny was seriously worried about Margarito's eye.
Plus his career.
He’s more Christian than Freddie, that’s for sure. Roacvh told him to knock him out.
It seems to me that knocking him out would have been the honorable, compassionate thing to do.
His eye was going to get hit more and more as the fight goes on, and a good brain-rattle is probably preferable to constantly re-arranging pieces of skull with those repeated wicked straight lefts.
I’ve always believed that the kindest thing to do to your opponent if you’ve got them on the ropes, or you hold any kind of serious advantage over, is to put them away as quickly and as efficiently as possible. But Manny’s definitely got a different (probably considerably ‘better’) sense of compassion than I do.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
I think that in many cases that stopping someone --ending the situation
can be more humane. Good post, misterjonez.
by Don From Prov on Nov 16, 2010 8:39 AM EST up reply actions
Wouldn't a weak 10-punch combination work?
You’re not really hurting your opponent but as long as he’s not throwing back, you force the ref to end it.
a la Green/Jones or Calzaghe/Manfredo
by Polish Rifle on Nov 16, 2010 10:12 AM EST up reply actions
Good thoughts, PR, but that may be tricky.
And Calzaghe/Manfredo might fall under that heading that Chaos has been speaking of: Needless interference.
Tough stuff all around, yes?
by Don From Prov on Nov 16, 2010 4:43 PM EST up reply actions
I've concluded that Manny decided in the ring precisely what he could do
And what the risk reward ratio of extending that might be?
He did after all control the distance most of the fight. He successfully hit Margarito’s head like a pinata…but it wouldn’t break open. And Margarito wouldn’t go down. So logic suggests that a bit more damage to the body might do the trick. Problem is…hitting the body means putting himself in further and unnecessary harm’s way. We know now that when had the chance to close the distance and go to the body it hurt. Manny knew that better than any of us.
It’s nothing more than a theory but I think he was smart enough to let his terrible damage do what it would….and wanted no part (more than necessary) of getting hit by uppercuts and body shots that might have upset an otherwise perfect game plan.
As for multiple combos getting the referee to stop the fight, I respectfully refer you to the videotape. Manny was machine gunning Margarito the whole fight. If Cole was going to use that as a means of stopping it, he could and would have long ago.
I think Manny could have stopped it pretty easily in rounds 11 or 12. He let Margo finish. At the end of 10 Margo was wobbled and in bad shape.
"Yes Gina, I am a Wise Cracker"
I thought (and I think a lot of things)
that in the 11th—
Now am I remembering this right, PP?
But in the 11th, I thought Manny went to the ropes on his own almost as if to show Margarito that he could no longer do real damage even there, and after that both backed off a little: One of those silent pacts.
I don’t think that Margarito was really pressing after that (though that may be due to his condition at the time) and that Manny backed off a little.
by Don From Prov on Nov 18, 2010 12:08 PM EST up reply actions
There was a silent pact....if you can call it that.
Manny had foregone the KO…and Margarito knew it wasn’t within his reach.
Roach walked out on the church years ago. Grammar school, I think.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
missed "reply", above for PnP
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
After being hit by a Nun
IIRC.
"All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him." - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Nov 16, 2010 5:25 AM EST up reply actions
He wasn't alone.
On the other hand, less Christian men than Manny have looked to the opposite corner and to the ref for help in stopping their beating their opponents.
I was yelling to Manny to take him out….but not to the head….but to the body.
I assumed that head wasn’t cracking and that lowering it might help drop him.
On the other hand, Manny was the guy getting hit back so i can’t speak for his lack of desire to get much closer in order to administer lethal body blows.
One last thing: I believe I saw him wince late in the fight after hitting Margarito. His wrists must be sore from whacking stone for a full 36 minutes.
He did say in one of the local post-fight interviews
that his (left?) hand was more sore and swollen than ever before, and that the one body punch Margo hit him with in the middle rounds was the most painful thing he’d felt in a boxing ring.
He still can’t talk right a couple days later. Saw him on TV trying his heart out to answer every question gracefull, but you could just tell he was in agony. He needs to be in bed with strong drugs for a week or two.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
Margo should hang out with MAB more often – his class might rub off on him.
I read somewhere that Roach told Manny to take it easy in the 12th (?) Margo was ready to go at the end of the 11th – I would’ve told my fighter to jump on him and finish it.
"Anytime you go thirty rounds with a guy, try to kill each other, and have the utmost respect for each other, no one understands that, but guys who have been to war understand it." - Micky Ward on Arturo Gatti.
I would've told my guy to finish Margo also
Boxing isn’t a sympathy sport. It is what it is, you’re in there to beat the other guy up. I dont like the “Letting the opponent survive” tactic because you have sympathy for him. I mean, Mike Tyson sure didn’t show any sympathy to “The Old Man” Larry Holmes. He had him tumbling around the ring and ultimately KO’d him with a vicious shot to the head.
Imagine if while Pacquaio is “Letting his opponent survive” Margo just closes his eyes,( the one eye he had available), says a prayer, and cocks back as hard as he can and connects on Pacquaio’s chin and KO’s him.
Boxing is the only sport where you can be losing the whole time by a landslide and still win with one shot…… Put the guy away.
different circumstances
Remember that Tyson KO’d Holmes like that as payback for the way he beat Ali. Again this was nothing but a mercy killing and not a kill shot. They both are promoted by BOB Arum and that’s what the problem was. This fight was about combing numbers to make people assume that Pacman is a bigger draw than Mayweather. The highest Pacman will every gross number wise will be the numbers that “HE” produced when he fought Clottey. That’s his actual “DRAW” GROSS MAXIMUM, he was the draw on that fight alone. Clottey may have been responsible for “MAYBE” less than 5% of those sales.
If you always thought what you thought, then you wouldn't think what you knew.
by Haans Bishop on Nov 16, 2010 1:03 PM EST up reply actions
No, it isn't.
9-ball pool is exactly like that….
Most fight fans would not spend a dime to watch Van Gogh paint 'Sunflowers', but they would fill Yankee Stadium to see him cut off his ear. (Bill Nack)
Every time Marg tried to come back in the 12th he got instantly clobbered, there was no danger there. I like a knockout, but there’s two solutions, and both are ok—Pac’s remark that “boxing is not for killing people” has plenty of resonance for me.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
should have been a reply to above.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
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