Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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Once again Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez put on a boxing show. Last night in Las Vegas, fight fans were treated to another great slugfest and action filled battle.  My cousin's pick for fight of the year in 2008 lived up to the hype. That's saying a lot after their phenomenal first fight back in 2004.  The fight went all 12 rounds and Pac Man won a tight split decision.  We recap the fight here for you today on TCF. Once again Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez put on a boxing show. Last night in Las Vegas, fight fans were treated to another great slugfest and action filled battle.

My pick for fight of the year in 2008 lived up to the hype. That's saying a lot after their phenomenal first fight back in 2004. The pace was fast and steady with hardly any clinches. Both fighters were well prepared and in excellent condition.

Manny Pacquiao got the victory by way of a split decision. The scores were 115-112 and 114-113 for Pacquiao and 115-112 for Marquez.  Pacquiao scored the only knockdown in the fight which proved to be the difference and secured the win for him.

The back and forth action is something we come to expect from both of these top ten pound for pound fighters. Pacquiao's power to me was the difference as he was able to land some vicious shots. Marquez was never really hurt too bad, but those shots won him some of the very close rounds. Marquez was the busier fighter, landing hard body shots and counter punching beautifully.  A cut was opened over the eye of Marquez and Manny kept landing shots right on it and by the end of the 12 rounds, it was a mess.

Pacquiao also suffered a cut and his corner did an excellent job stopping the bleeding which was another huge factor. In the later rounds, while it was bleeding, it was noticeably bothering Manny and Marquez was taking advantage of it. Once the eye was cleaned up Manny was much more effective and finally was able to slip a few of Marquez's punches.

Both fighters impressed me yet again. The heart that both of these guys possess is unreal. As fight fans, on occasion we call them warriors. They showed us why we do that. Not once did either guy back down from the other. They kept on coming forward and leaving themselves opened as they tried to land their own power shots. It was a boxing clinic by both guys on how to be winners.

With the victory Pacquiao earned the WBC 130 pound title. There is talk that he will be moving up to 135 in the very near future. No matter who he fights, it will be exciting. His style at times is akward, but he brings everything he has every time he steps into the ring.

Juan Manuel Marquez suffered a hard fought loss but has nothing to be ashamed of. He is a world class fighter and will be back stronger his next time out.

Another classic fight between two phenomenal boxers. I would love to see them do it for a third time. Will it happen? I'm not so sure but if it does, nobody should miss it.