Marquez was Mayweather’s mere conduit to meeting Pacquiao

By Al S. Mendoza

ONCE in a while, we go BR.

BR, as in Bragging Rights, as what the discerning folk of Bogtong Silag led by Julian Apostol love to say.

Act proud?  Showboat?  Be gaudy?

Not at all, please.

I did something worth all our while and I’m just happy about it.

What was it you did, feller?

Correctly predict the outcome of the Mayweather-Marquez fight.

I said it here, I said it in radio interviews, I said it in the primer telecast on the eve of the televised fight on ABS-CBN.

And I told the great guy above me here, Jun Velasco: Mayweather would beat Marquez.

Even if, maybe, Mayweather fought blindfolded, he’d still win pulling away.

Marquez wasn’t only in Mayweather’s league.

Against Mayweather, Marquez was a mere piece of meat tossed into a lion’s den.

I was emphatic about it: If the fight lasted the distance, Mayweather would win on points.

It went 12 rounds. Mayweather won the nod of all three judges.

I gave all 12 rounds to Mayweather.

A rarity.

When was the last time I scored a fight that way?

I couldn’t remember now.

Usually, I spare a round or two to a beaten foe.

Out of pity? Compassion?

Not this time, though.

It was clear as day that Mayweather had won all the marbles.

Marquez was thoroughly outboxed, outgunned and outmaneuvered.

Mayweather even merely practically went through the motions of stealing it.

It’s like, for Mayweather, another day in the office. Business-like.

After Mayweather had decked Marquez in the second round, the muscle-bound American could have opted for a knock out.

Marquez was lucky Mayweather wasn’t in the mood for it.

Mayweather simply used the fight as part of his overall plan to get back in shape.

For the unbeaten icon, he used all 12 rounds to help him shake off the rust of a 21-month layoff.

Marquez was the perfect tool for a tune-up, and Mayweather didn’t waste time to exploit it.

For, definitely, in this his 40th fight, what was in Mayweather’s mind was not Marquez, nor to protect his 39-0 record, but Pacquiao.

You need a conduit to achieve a grand design.

Marquez was merely the bridge that would make Mayweather a megabuck fighter that he had always dreamed of.

With Marquez out of the way, Mayweather’s dream is half-done; completing the dream would be to meet Pacquiao in what would be easily billed as the fight of the decade.

Excuse me, but who needs the Pacquiao-Cotto fight on Nov. 14?

Sadly, that has now merely become a front act to the main act: the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout in March 2010.

You disagree and you are way out of tune.

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