On a night when a star-studded crowd that included Republican presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney, Dodgers owner Magic Johnson and hip hop star 50 Cent were seated at ringside at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden, Juan Manuel Marquez delivered the best performance of his career.

He knocked Manny Pacquiao out as the sixth round ended, putting the Filipino superstar out face first on the canvas. Pacquiao had missed a right and Marquez used his specialty, the counter right hand, to close the show.
He landed the right directly on the chin, putting Pacquiao out cold. Pacquiao's wife, Jinkee, shrieked out and attempted to get to the ring. Promoter Bob Arum put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.
"I knew Manny could knock me out at any time," Marquez said. "I threw the perfect punch."

"We always work on that [counter right]. The change in rhythm was important. We knew he was going to come out aggressive, so we had a fight plan that was more technique and we were able to capitalize on it. We knew it would be a very difficult fight, but not an impossible fight. We had to use our technique and skill and we didn't allow Manny to connect as he had done."

Pacquiao's eyes were not focusing correctly for several minutes after the bout.

Marquez put Pacquiao down in the third round, also with a right hand, while Pacquiao put Marquez down in the fifth.
The knockout came at 2:59 of the sixth, a round that Pacquiao likely would have won had it finished. It was a good round with plenty of back-and-forth action, but Pacquiao was landing his left regularly.
"He caught me with my hand down," Pacquiao said. "That was an error and we corrected it. We worked strength, we worked speed and you can see the result."
"I got hit by a punch I didn't see."
Marquez, who bulked up for the fight, showed a great deal more firepower. He rocked Pacquiao several times with the right and seemed to be the stronger puncher.
Pacquiao had made an adjustment that allowed him to land his left with more regularity. He kept his lead foot outside of Marquez's, which opened things up.
Marquez, one of the best counter punchers in the sport, connected with his right but this time, it had more pop than it did in the first three outings between them.

GALLERY FROM THE BOUT

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