Juan Manuel Marquez came out of his corner firing jabs and right hands, catching Manny Pacquiao and moving him straight back. The Filipino Sensation responded with a lightning fast one-two that floored his opponent. Marquez got up, the two traded punches, and the Mexican went down again. He rose, again trying to slug with the quicker Filipino, and went down a third time when Pacquiao caught him against the ropes. It didn't appear he was going to get up this time, but the courageous Mexican rose, blood gushing from his nose, and battled Pacquiao until the bell sounded. the crowd at the MGM Grand cheered wildly.

And that was only round 1.

By the fight's end, the scores on the judge's scorecards were about as consistent as "Sugar" Shane Mosley; they read 110-115 for Marquez, 110-115 for Pacqiuao, and 113-113. It was a great fight, the sort of fight that people speak of "no one deserving to lose". Throughout most of the middle rounds, Marquez counterpunched Pacquiao beautifully, and seemed more comfortable and better able to time the Filipino. Pacquiao, who looked like a Filipino version of Iron Mike with his peek-a-boo and side-to-side style, threw flames, but didn't do much when Marquez had him backing up and retreating. While Marquez threw a variety of punches including bodyshots and uppercuts, Pacquiao sought only to land the straight left hand.

As chants of support for both fighters filled the air, Marquez's confidence grew as he traded and successfully counterpunched the "Pac-Man". In the fifth round, Marquez hurt Pacquiao, and in the following round, he landed a right hand to Pacquiao's cheek that they must've heard all the way in Manila. Rounds 9 through 12 were difficult to score.

I scored the fight 115-111 for Marquez, giving Pacqiuao the first and last rounds (although the first round was a 10-6 because of the three knockdowns). Once Marquez was able to guage the Filipino's speed, he seemed able to fight his fight and box Pacqiuao around the ring.

The draw settled nothing, with both fighters retaining thier belts. So let's do it again.

On the wildly entertaining undercard, Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto extended his unbeaten streak to 20-0 (16) with a decisive victory over Australian Lovemore Ndou, 37-7-1 (23). Cotto has been mildly criticized for fighting handpicked junior welterweights while his more talented opposition consisted of those moving up from lightweight (Cesar Bazan, Demetrio Ceballos, Victoriano Sosa). But Ndou is a natural 147-pounder and provided Cotto with his toughest test yet. The fight was very competitive from start to finish, with both fighters showing good defence and speed. Cotto never seemed hurt by Ndou's mostly arm punches, while Ndou was frustrated by not being able to get around the Puerto Rican's defence. Both fighters switched to a southpaw stance, if only for a few seconds, at different points in the fight.

I scored the fight 117-111 for Cotto. It remains to be seen whether or not Cotto's punching power will have the same destructive effect against other top ten junior welterweights like Demarcus Corley, Vivian Harris and Sharmba Mitchell, that he's demonstrated thus far against lesser opposition.