I CRIED AFTER LOSING TO MARQUEZ – PACQUIAO
FILIPINO boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, in one candid moment during dinner with friends on Tuesday night, admitted that he cried after losing by knockout to Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.
”I tried to control my emotions right after the fight but when I was alone in my room, I decided to view some of the TV footages of the reaction of my fans to my loss,” he said.
”When I saw that people were sad and crying, I felt so sorry that I failed them and I cried,” Pacquiao narrated over a dinner in his posh Dadiangas Heights Mansion in General Santos City.
The 34-year-old boxing phenomenon who holds the distinction of being the only person in the history of boxing to hold eight titles in different weight categories said he was able to accept his defeat calmly.
” I felt sad that I lost but it was not until that moment when I saw how sad the Filipino people were when I broke down and cried,” Pacquiao said.
” If only I could embrace them one by one and tell them that I was sorry that I let them down, I will do it,” he said.
Pacquiao was on the verge of stopping the tough Mexican fighter, turning his face into a bloody mess and breaking the bridge of his nose, when Marquez was able to sneak in a short right towards the dying seconds of the tragic round and knocked out the boxing icon cold for only the second time in his career.
” I lost, period. There are no reasons to justify it,” he said when somebody suggested that it appeared like Marquez stepped on his right foot which caused his to lose balance and lower his guard giving the Mexican an opportunity to hit him clean.
Pacquiao, who is running unopposed for the lone Congressional seat of Saranggani province said he is planning at least two more fights before he decides to hang up his gloves and retire from boxing.
He said he would like his next fight to be in September of this year, shortly after the elections.
When asked whether it will be a fifth fight with his nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao said it will all depend on whe- ther the Mexican fighter will still go for a historic fight encounter in one of the most colorful boxing match- ups in the history of the sport.