On his recent publicity tour of China to promote his upcoming bout with Brandon Rios, Manny Pacquiao commented on the devastating KO punch that had floored him so shockingly in his last fight in the quadrology with his nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez. He said:
"I think Marquez just got lucky, he got lucky in that fight."
The notion of the 'lucky punch' is one that comes up frequently in boxing, spilling forth not only in blogs like my own, or from the comments below the line, but also from the commentators, the trainers and even the fighters themselves. Well, the defeated ones anyway.
I've seen people go back and forth over the value of a single punch in a fight. They link to clips, GIFs, still photos, covering multiple angles, dissecting it frame by frame, not unlike Jim Harrison pondering just what happened over there on the grassy knoll.
"He has his eyes closed!" they thunder. "It was just not fair."
Of course, I understand why fighters say this, why Pacquiao would be loathe to say "He just beat me fair and square."* If you're trying to position yourself as the best in the sport, and on the all time great list, a 'lucky shot' could amount to merely an asterisk on a glittering resume that oozes quality all the way from a 2001 IBF Super Bantamweight shot against Lehlo Ledwaba, up to his physical limit at Light-Middleweight when he crushed Antonio Margarito's orbital bone, along with his future career in the sport.
I saw similar accusations of luck hurled at Sergio Martinez for cracking a chin that was thought to be uncrackable, or at Danny Garcia for poleaxing a guy several fans feel would be felled by a particularly stiff wind.
Next time someone throws this lazy accusation out there, there's a simple solution. Watch the fight again. Danny Garcia was loading up on huge counter lefts all night vs Khan, even as Khan sliced and diced his face over the opening 2 rounds. He had a plan, he had faith in it; this was not a man swinging for the fences.
Ditto Juan Manuel Marquez. Watch the fight again. As Pacquiao roared back from his knock down and was chasing Marquez from corner to corner, and adding layer after layer of blood that was gushing from Marquez' broken nose, he still had a plan. He still had faith.
You have a world class, veteran fighter, throwing a looping overhand right that had already sent his opponent to the canvas in an earlier round.
In the end, it reached it's target with the pinpoint accuracy of an Olympic archer.
These are not 'lucky punches.' They're perfect.
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*To be fair to Manny, he was mainly complimentary and gracious in defeat after losing to Marquez, saying "I have no excuses."
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