After watching (and recording) the live Primetime broadcast of Marquez vs Pac III, I subsequently got a hold of the HBO version. Funnily enough, in the HBO version, many of Marquez's key moments of the fight are distorted by the ref walking in the way, bad angles, etc - a few examples of this in the early-mid rounds. In fact, the HBO version commentators failed to mention many of Marquez's standout moments and praised and massaged every glancing shot and minor victory for Pacquiao.
At the end of the fight, the Primetime commentators seemed to think the decision was a no-brainer (much like everyone in attendance at the MGM Grand) in that Marquez had control of most of the fight. On the HBO version, Emanuel Steward just rambled on about how 'strong Pacquiao looks' (whatever that means - he obviously couldn't talk about an abundance of effective punches). Furthermore, some of the sound-bites of the crowd boo'ing at the end of the fight during Pac's interview seem to be edited in the HBO version, they're much quieter than the live Primetime broadcast (although to be fair, they claimed to be experiencing audio difficulties).
Does this all add up to the corruption in the sport being so ingrained that it is even apparent in the broadcasting, commentary and editing of the fight? We all know boxing is corrupt and dirty in many ways, but might the only way to save the sport (from the dollar) be to get rid of many of the 'old guard' of boxing (people like Dave Moretti, Glenn Trowbridge, Harold Lederman, etc) and the ridiculous number of governing bodies? Is the 'sport' already beyond saving?
I would be very interested to hear what some of you think.
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