Pacquiao Brawls to Draw with Marquez

Manny Pacquiao knocked Juan Manuel Marquez down three times in the first round of their featherweight title bout. Nevertheless, Marquez refused to surrender and his tremendous effort - as well as some curious scoring - allowed him to retain his championship belts. The judges had it 115-110 for Marquez, 115-110 for Pacquiao and 113-113. As if the discrepancy in the scorecards didn't generate enough controversy, the judge who saw the fight even later admitted making a scoring mistake in the first round. Burt Clements scored the round 10-7 for Pacquiao (the other two judges scored it 10-6). Had Clements scored it 10-6, as he later said he should have given the three knockdowns, Pacquiao would have won. Another fight, another demonstration of incompetence by a judge. What else is new? The good news ... the draw sets up a rematch which could prove every bit as good as the first fight.