Six months after the fight with Barrera, Pacquiao challenged Juan Manuel Márquez, who at the time held both the WBA and IBF featherweight titles. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, on May 8, 2004.
In the first round, Márquez was caught cold, as he was knocked down three times by Pacquiao. However, Márquez showed great heart to recover from the early knockdowns and went on to win the majority of rounds thereafter. This was largely due to Márquez's counterpunch style, which he managed to effectively utilize against the aggressive style of Pacquiao. At the end of a very close fight, both boxers felt they had done enough to win the fight. The bout was scored a draw, which proved to be a controversial decision. The final scores were 115–110 for Márquez, 115–110 for Pacquiao, and 113–113. The judge who scored the bout 113–113 admitted to making an error on the scorecards, having scored the first round as 10–7 in favor of Pacquiao instead of the standard 10–6 for a three-knockdown round. If he had scored the round 10–6 for Pacquiao (as the other two judges did), the result would have been a split decision in favor of Pacquiao. However, ESPN reported that some pundits have also scored the fight in favor of Márquez.
