I know Marco Antonio Barrera lost the fight last Saturday to Manny Pacquiao, but unlike Larry Merchant and the rest of the HBO cast, I thought given the circumstances; his age, his past wars, his battle weariness, he did what he could. His game plan was to take Pacquiao the distance and out box him, at those times when he took a stand against Paquiao he fared fairly well. We all knew it would be an up hill battle for Barrera, a tough mountain to climb. He failed. There is no shame in that.Am I the only one that thought Pacquiao was hamming it up when Barrera popped him with a right hand just as referee Tony Weeks was calling a break? The point deduction was unwarranted, a warning would have sufficed. It would not have made a difference
on the scorecards, but if Paquiao was as hurt as he seemed to be, and if Weeks had let the fight continue, we might have seen a different ending. Or is it just me?
I was appalled by Larry Merchants line of questioning when he was interviewing Barrera after the fight. He seemed to be trying his best to take the last shred of dignity from a great, but aging warrior. Barrera, to his credit, didn't bite and remained unbowed.
To Larry Merchant and others who choose to judge fighters from the comfort of a ringside seat, or perhaps an easy chair in the den, beer in hand, watching the fight on television with some buddies, I give you the following.........
........It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat........Anonymous
