MANNY PACQUIAO W12 (split) JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ

RINGSIDE REPORT: Once again, getting knocked down by Manny Pacquiao proved costly on the scorecards for Juan Manuel Marquez, who lost last Saturday’s thrilling rematch by a single point although many at ringside and in the arena saw him the winner.

At ringside in Las Vegas, I, too, thought that Marquez has done enough to win. The Mexican camp had bitter, angry words to say about the split decision that saw Pacquiao take Marquez's WBC super featherweight title, but in truth this was a fight that could have gone either way.

In 2004 it was three knockdowns in the first round that saw Marquez have to settle for a draw instead of a win. This time, getting dropped in the third round was what did him in. In what came down to being a one-point fight, the knockdown made the difference.

The action was so fierce that the rounds flew by. The fight was very nearly as good as the rubber-match epic between Israel Vazquez and Juan Manuel’s brother, Rafael, who also lost a single-point heartbreaker. Fights such as these will keep boxing alive and well. The 11,000 crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and fans watching on HBO PPV in the U.S. and on TV around the world saw something very special.

While each man was cut over the right eye, Marquez’s gusher had referee Kenny Bayless casting anxious glances, but to the relief of the aficionados the ringside doctor allowed the fight to proceed to its conclusion.

The fight had what Howard Cosell would have called ebbs and flows. A left hook wobbled Pacquiao late in the second round, Marquez was down in the third and each was cut in the seventh — Marquez from a clash of heads, Pacquiao from a punch, according to the Nevada commission. Then we had Pacquiao grimacing and briefly seeming on the verge of quitting in the eighth after a right hand caught him on his now swollen and closing right eye, Marquez was hammered in the 10th yet, despite being the older man by five years, staged a storming finish in the last two rounds.

And at the end, people all around me at ringside were unsure of the winner, colleagues asking each other the question: “How did you have it?”

The enthusiasm of the crowd, the Filipino faction roaring for Pacquiao, the Mexican contingent urging Marquez on, made it the great occasion that had been predicted while the fight itself might even have surpassed expectations, proving just as dramatic as the original. HBO PPV executive Mark Taffet told the post-fight press conference: “In our wildest dreams we never expected another fight like this.”

Pacquiao landed the more explosive shots and scored the knockdown but, for me, Marquez seemed to be outboxing, outscoring and even outfighting him in most of the rounds.

I thought that judge Jerry Roth’s 115-112 in Marquez’s favour was the right assessment, but the equally seasoned Duane Ford had Pacquiao ahead by the same margin while the 114-113 of Ohio judge Tom Miller in Pacquiao’s favour was understandable.

Marquez fought a technically solid, courageous fight but was often aggressive, hurting Pacquiao at times and backing him up.

Pacquiao’s failure to jab and hook consistently with his southpaw right hand was disappointing for trainer Freddie Roach, who also, in his usual candid way, admitted at the post-fight press conference that his man took too many straight right hands. “It was very close but I thought the knockdown made the difference,” Roach said.

I thought that Pacquiao looked a bit surprised — certainly overjoyed — when he was announced as the winner.

Pacquiao, 29, was the faster and more dynamic fighter but Marquez looked the more accomplished all-round professional. His right hand through the middle was a punishing weapon but he also jabbed and hooked — and some of the left hooks to the body seemed to be bothering Pacquiao and perhaps slowed him down. Pacquiao’s fists-pumping rushes were exciting and eye-catching and his left hand was a danger to Marquez all through the fight although less so in the final two rounds.

Things got heated at the post-fight press conference as Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, representing Marquez, argued the case for an immediate rematch (actually third fight) while Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, prefers to see what he called some “air” between the fights although seeming to agree in principle that the third fight should happen.

Pacquiao will now move up to lightweight to challenge David Diaz. Marquez said he will follow Pacquiao up in weight to 135 pounds, even 140 pounds, to show the boxing world “who is the better fighter”.

The Marquez faction called the decision an embarrassment to boxing but in reality this was a close, tough fight. I had Marquez winning but could have no argument for anyone who scored closely for Pacquiao. The decision was debatable but by no means one of boxing’s so-called robberies.

I have to agree with Richard Schaefer that most fans would prefer to see Pacquiao-Marquez III than a Pacquiao-David Diaz fight (sorry David), but any delay in making the match would seem to be in favour of the Filipino superstar, seeing that he is the younger man.

However, Marquez, thought by some to be slightly in decline, fought as well as he has ever done. He could quite possibly box just as well in, say, another year, as he did on Saturday night.

The billing of Saturday’s fight was “Unfinished Business” — and unfinished it remains.