The end of the year severely damaged the violent sport, first with the controversial decision in the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez that once again went against the Mexican fighter.
After an almost perfect fight that had the Filipino fighter on edge for all 12 rounds, keeping him from boxing and showing the deficiencies of the best fighter in the world, the judges decided that the win was for Pacquiao. This created a huge backlash and even surprised the Filipino fighter.
International betting, which had Pacquiao as a 10-to-1 favorite and 5-to-1 closer to the fight, and the possible mega fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. were given by Marquez as possible reasons why the call went against him. The Mexican had come out fighting and talking about a stolen fight, a word that has been repeated often in the boxing world.
Another event, now confirmed by one of its protagonists just a few weeks ago, was Mexican boxer Tomas Rojas accepting that he had received 100 thousand pesos ($8,000) to fall by a fake knockout against world champion Jorge "Travieso" Arce in 2007.
Rojas admitted that he confessed to a reporter while off the record, who had said he would not publish the information. But in this world, everything comes to light, and after its publication, Rojas had no other choice but to confirm the version published by the reporter.
"I will be honest … it went like that. Necessity makes you do things you don't want to. I don't know … I'm angry, I said that to him, but as friends, I told him not to say anything, but I did say it, and that reporter should have better ethics," confirmed the Mexican boxer.
Rojas simply confirmed something that lingers around the sport, as money, corruption and power take advantage of necessity to get ahead and consolidate a spot for someone that does not deserve it or that does not have the qualities as an athlete to reach those levels.
Many advocate for unification in the sport, to get rid of interim titles and ghost organizations that help create paperweight champs, something that needs to be taken into account in the coming months before a loyal fan base stops offering to pay pay-per-view programs or tickets to arenas.
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