Following his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Márquez, Manny ”Pacman” Pacquiao made a precautionary visit to University Medical Center.
Pacquiao returned to his penthouse suite in the hotel for a family dinner followed by a viewing of his fourth fight against Marquez. As the DVD played, Pacquiao announced “Spoiler alert. I don’t think you are going to like how this ends!”
Pacquiao then issued the following statement to his fans:
“First and foremost I would like to thank God for keeping Juan Manuel Márquez and me safe during our fight on Saturday night,” said Pacquiao. “I want to congratulate Juan Manuel. I have no excuses. It was a good fight and he deserved the victory. I think boxing fans who watched us were winners too.
“To all my fans, I would like to thank you for your prayers and assure you that I am fine. I am looking forward to a nice rest and then I will be back to fight.
“On behalf of Jinkee and our family we would like to wish everyone a joyous Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.”
In a consensus Fight of the Year, Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs), of the Philippines, ahead on all three scorecards 47-46, was knocked out by Márquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), of México, via a spectacular right hand, with one second remaining in round No. 6. It took place at the soldout MGM Grand Garden Arena, in front of 16,348 fans. Their four-fight rivalry now stands at 2-1-1 in favor of Pacquiao.
Pacquiao-Márquez 4 was promoted by Top Rank®, in association with MP Promotions, Zanfer Promotions, Márquez Boxing, Tecate, Wonderful Pistachios, Cinemax ‘Banshee,’ Smart Communications, Universal Pictures ‘Django Unchained’ and MGM Grand Hotel & Casino.
The Pacquiao vs. Márquez 4 telecast was produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® and available to more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. Follow HBO Boxing news at WWW.HBO.COM and at WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/HBOBOXING. Use the hashtag #PacMarquez to join the conversation on Twitter. For Pacquiao vs. Márquez updates, log on to WWW.TOPRANK.COM or WWW.HBO.COM.