My little guy--James Daryl-- sparring session in preparation for his fight for the school unit meet at Baroy, Lanao del Norte.

Photo: Jeff Gross

If I could only borrow the eyes of boxing judges' Gwen Adair, Carla Caiz and Martha Denkin so that I will understand how they scored the fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brian Vera. I just don't understand how.

Chavez escaped a unanimous decision win on Saturday night's HBO main event, at the StubHub Center, Carson, California after 10 rounds of supposed to be 163 pounds contracted weight limit. Then later on was changed to 165--these weights still under the super middleweight range. But again changed to 173 pounds--two pounds short to reach the light heavyweight limit.

This is the weight issues of Chavez prior to the fight.

Vera clearly the underdog in size so with power, I supposed. But was able to established enough difference between who won and who lost in the fight, which were not determined by our judges.

I thought the Mayweather-Canelo was the last controversial judging that will happen this September, which started early this month, with Beltran-Burns fight. I'm mistaken.

After all, this is what Vera could say in his tweet on tweeter, "I appreciate all the love and support... I did everything I could possibly to do win. At the end of the day I'm happy with my performance"

What to do? This is what it is man!

The battle of Manny Pacquiao tormentors will be on 12 October 2013 at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada for the world welterweight title.

Juan Manuel Marquez (welterweight TBRB rank no. 2), will return to the ring to face Timothy Bradley (welterweight TBRB rank no. 4), after a spectacular knockout victory, in November of last year, over arch-rival, Filipino boxing icon, Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez 55-6-1 (KO 40), ended the rivalry of his long time nemesis with exclamation point. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out, with a big right hand, sending Pacquiao face-first to the floor with a second remaining in the sixth round.

Bradley, another Pacquiao tormentor, will climb the ring against Marquez, coming off a thrilling victory in March over Russian banger, Ruslan Provodnikov. Bradley defeated Pacquiao in paper, rather than in actual combat; awarded by a split decision victory of what has been considered as the most controversial decision in recent memory of boxing.

Judge C.J. Ross scored the bout, a mind-puzzling, 115-113 for Bradley. Ross is the same judge that scored 114-114, a draw, for Mayweather-Alvarez 'The One' fight card on 14 September. Ross made a self-imposed leave of absence from judging boxing after ‘The One’ controversy.

Going back to Bradley-Marquez fight; I think the winner of this fight will be Pacquiao's potential opponent in a rematch; after of course, if Pacquiao, will get past Mexican-American brawler, Brandon Rios in November. A Pacquiao rematch to either Bradley or Marquez is more feasible because they are all under Top Rank.

At an advance age, Marquez continues to explode like dynamite in every fight. I predicted Marquez to lose his 4th fight with Pacquiao. But the 'Dinamita' unleashed a deafening explosion that was heard in the four corners of the boxing world. It was really shocking. Some doubted as to how Marquez, 39 years old at that time, did it to Pacquiao.

A doubt, that Bradley even threatened that, "If this guy [Marquez] doesn't get drug tested at all by VADA or USADA then the fight's not going to happen." Bradley said.

What a big doubt, is it?

Well, Top Rank boss, Bob Arum managed to convince Bradley to go on with NSAC—not VADA or USADA.

Now, after a long introduction, let me breakdown Bradley vs. Marquez.

I consider Marquez as one of the most intelligent fighter in the sport, along with Floyd May weather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins. The Mexican veteran is a thinking fighter and excellent counter-puncher inside the ring. He can use opponent's aggressiveness to his advantage--ask Pacquiao.

I do not expect Marquez to show something different here rather than what he usually does, which is to counter... counter... and counter. Well, JMM is JMM, he will do exactly what a JMM should do.

It is with Bradley, whom I am excited to see, not just one but several approach to this fight. Bradley is famous to find ways to outwork his opponent. In his fight with Pacquiao, he tried to match speed with speed in the early rounds. He then realized that yes; he could match Pacquiao's speed, but not Pacquiao’s power. So, he tried another approach: which is to hit without getting hit. He tried to outbox Pacquiao, keep himself busy with the jab and moving around in the later rounds. That could have kept him earning the judges’ scorecards.

Fighting with Marquez, I think Bradley will try to be the aggressor in the first three rounds because Marquez is a slow starter. I see Bradley winning these rounds. Then, Marquez will start catching him up in the fourth and fifth round with crisp and precise counters. Bradley will then switch to boxing. In this approach, I’m afraid the fight could become boring. Maybe in the sixth until the tenth round, there will be lesser activity. Remember that: Marquez will not open up as much, if his opponent will not throw more. See Mayweather-Marquez. I feel that these rounds could be given by the judges either way.

Not unless, Marquez will realize that Bradley really don't have enough power in his punches. And opening up a little bit more is worth the risk. Well, I’m in doubt if Marquez will shift to being the aggressor once Bradley will go back a little deeper to his shell.

Then, I think in the championship round Bradley will go back to the offensive. He will then close the gap and work more the way he did with Devon Alexander, because Marquez, at 40 years old, might tire and may not have enough power to catch him with a single punch. This is where I believe Bradley’s third-hand played its role--the head-butt. You know Bradley's tendency. Will I hope Bradley's trademark head-butt will not be a factor here.

Larry Merchant commented on Bradley-Alexander fight: "It was another head-butt from Bradley that turned out to be the lethal fight-ending punch."

My final verdict:

I pick Bradley to win via unanimous or a majority decision.

I put myself into the casual boxing fans shoes, before the fight between undefeated boxing pound-for-pound kingpin, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Transnational Boxing Ranking Board [TBRB] number two), and Mexico’s best, TBRB number one, also undefeated Saul Canelo Alvarez in the junior middleweight division. I put it by expecting these scenarios that:

Chris Arreola 36-3, (KO 31) destroyed Seth Mitchell 26-2-1, (KO 19) in the first round on Saturday night at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Arreola claims the WBC International heavyweight title.

Efrain Esquivias walk through those shots and continue headhunting Marquez that paid off in the ninth round; connecting solid right hand sending the Mexican warrior to the floor. 

I think this is the end of the road for the great career of Rafael Marquez. He should retire from boxing; he has done great for the sport. He’s been into epic battles with Israel Vazquez that I believed both fighters became damage goods after the third encounter. It was a brutal fight. Although Marquez won the fourth and final battle against Vazquez, he was 2-3 since then, out of five fights. He won by stoppage against journeymen—Eric Aiken and Eduardo Becerril but knockout by champion caliber opponents—Cristian Mijares and Toshiaki Nishioka. A clear indication that his career is nowhere going up but on the downside instead. 

I think Rafael Marquez was motivated by the victory of his older brother, Juan Manuel Marquez to continue fighting even after his knocked out defeat against Mijares in October 2012—which I believed he should have retired soon after that fight. 

Well, who will not get motivated to fight again also, if you have an older brother, who pulled a stunning KO victory against his arch-rival at age 39? I assumed Rafael might be thinking that: if my brother can do why can’t I? However, the result last night was not exactly he wanted. I hate not to see again the kind of fighter Rafael use to be. But I think that’s it for him. He should retire. 

Do you think Rafael still has it to keep on fighting? Or he should retire?  

Filipino boxing icon, Manny Pacquiao posted on his column "Kumbinasyon" on Philboxing.com that after a doctor's check up and medication on his ankle he can now run and continue his training for the fight. 

Arreola 35-3 (KO 30) is coming off from a unanimous decision loss against Bermane Stiverne on April 27 and hoping to rebound from that defeat.

Both fighters are trying to rebuild and revitalize their respective careers in order to stay relevant in a non-American dominated heavyweight division. Arreola and Mitchell were not able to make it to the top ten heavyweight ranking of Transnational Boxing Ranking Board.

Marc Pingris and Kelly Nabong fought a boxing-like action during their play in the PBA game--actually it is more like of MMA--Nabong throw a knee to Pingris. Both Nabong and Pingris were thrown out from the game for fighting. And the rest of the players that involve were penalized.