A bloodied Juan Manuel Marquez rallied to knock out eight division champ Manny Pacquiao with one second left in the sixth round Saturday night to win in the fourth fight of their epic boxing rivalry.
The 39-year-old Marquez, who suffered a broken nose and possible concussion, dropped Pacquiao face first to the canvas, giving him his first victory over the Filipino superstar.
Marquez knocked Pacquiao down in the third round then ended the fight with a savage overhand right that hit Pacquiao flush, sending him down hard.
“I feel great that I leave no doubt in the way I got this victory over Manny,” Marquez said. “I was counter punching him. He was throwing a lot of punches but he was missing and so I would try to counter punch.
“The right hand I got under his guard. I threw the right when he missed a punch on me.”
Pacquiao, who suffered his second consecutive loss, landed under the ropes and lay there for a couple of minutes before being helped up and back to his corner.
“I got hit with a punch I didn’t see,” said Pacquiao before being taken to the nearby University Medical Center hospital for repairs. “I thought I was getting him in the last couple of rounds but I got hit by a strong punch. I did not expect that punch.”
Pacquiao did not attend the post-fight news conference. His camp said he was undergoing scans of his head area and other medical tests.
The shocking ending stunned the crowd of 16,348 at the MGM Grand Garden arena as Marquez had held his own in their first three fights but had never even knocked down Pacquiao until Saturday night.
Pacquiao dismissed talk of retirement and said he would like to fight Marquez again.
“I am going to rest and come back to fight. I would go for a fifth,” he said.
Marquez said he is not thinking about a rematch at the moment.
“I think this fight was one of my best victories absolutely,” Marquez said.
“Right now in my future I don’t know what is coming.”
Pacquiao, who was a three-to-one favorite on Friday, dropped to 54-5-2 with 38 KOs.
Pacquiao weighed in at the division’s 147-pound limit (66.67kg) while Marquez, who improved to 55-6-1 with 40 knockouts, stepped on the scale at 143 pounds (64.86kg).
The fighters set a blistering pace, making it look unlikely this fight would go the distance as their three previous fights had. He is not an easy opponent,” Pacquiao said. “I was just starting to feel confident and then I got careless.”
This time, four division champion Marquez left no doubt, showing he was willing to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao even after getting knocked down in the fifth round.