The day JM Marquez, 40, ended Manny Pacquiao’s career …

On December 8, 2012, it was not just night. In the legendary MGM Grand of Las Vegas, boxing lived one of his most iconic moments when Juan Manuel Márquez, the Mexican warrior, achieved what many considered impossible: knocked out Manny Pacquiao, a living legend, in the culmination of an epic rivalry that extended for years.

Both fighters arrived at the quadrilateral with a history loaded with tension and controversy. The three previous fights had left flavor of nonconformity in both Márquez and Pacquiao.

The first ended in a tie, although the Mexican got up three times from the canvas. The following two, decisions divided in favor of the Filipino, were considered by many as unfair. This fourth installment was not just a fight: it was a search for redemption, justice, legacy.

From the first bell, the atmosphere was different. It wasn’t another fight; It was a war. Pacquiao, younger and fast, seemed to have the advantage. Márquez, calculator and cold, expected his moment with the precision of a surgeon.

As usual, the first assaults were full of intensity. Both touched the canvas, and the balance leaned dangerously from one place to another. The tension in the sand was electric.

But then, in the sixth assault, the unthinkable happened.

Over time almost exhausted in the round, and when Pacquiao seemed to dominate, Márquez threw a perfect right, millimeter, almost mystical. A blow out of the shadows, guided by instinct, experience and perhaps by the gods of boxing.

Pacquiao’s body fell inert, his face kissing the canvas. The silence was absolute. For a moment, the world held breathing. He was one of the most shocking Knockouts in the history of modern boxing.

That moment became immortal.

The image of Pacquiao collapsed, the closed eyes, while Márquez raises the arms between cries of euphoria, will be recorded forever in the collective memory of the sport. It was the culmination of a history of effort, to fight adversity, of national pride. Márquez not only won a fight: he won respect for the entire world.

Despite the clamor for a fifth fight, Márquez, with dignity, refused. “There is nothing more to prove,” he said. And he was right. He had written the final chapter of a legendary rivalry with a golden point and apart.

That night, Mexico had its moment of glory. And Juan Manuel Márquez, the master of the backlash, consecrated himself as an eternal legend of boxing.