LAS VEGAS – Juan Manuel Marquez carried more than eight years of frustration, disappointment and anger with him when he got into the ring with Manny Pacquiao on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden. After losing two and drawing one in three fights he had a right to believe he won, the bigger and stronger version of Marquez left no doubt this time around.

He concluded one of the year’s best fights in stunningly brutal fashion, catching Pacquiao on the chin with a perfectly placed counter right hand, knocking the Filipino superstar out cold at 2:59 of the sixth round before an arena packed with his delirious fans.

As Pacquiao lay prone on the mat and Marquez and his fans celebrated, somewhere, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. had to be kicking himself. The world’s top boxer failed to sign a fight with Pacquiao that would have been the richest bout of all-time. While it’s not out of the question that Mayweather and Pacquiao could still fight, the bout will never have the kind of luster it had when they were 1-2 in the rankings and both seemingly invincible.

Mayweather’s one-time close friend, hip hop star Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, knew as referee Kenny Bayless attended to Pacquiao that it was equivalent to flushing millions down the drain. “That was a lot of money [going away],” he said. Pacquiao didn’t show for the post-fight news conference. He walked out of the arena under his own power, but was taken to a local hospital for a CAT scan. The scan came back negative. In the ring after the fight, he said simply, “I got hit with a punch I didn’t see.”