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COWBOYS STADIUM, ARLINGTON, TX -- Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao (R) of the Philippines hits Antonio Margarito of Mexico with a right in this bit of action from their WBC Junior Middleweight Championship fight Saturday night here. Pacquiao, using his much vaunted speed, thoroughly beat up the much taller and heavier Margarito all night to win his 8th title in as many divisions thus establishing himself as one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. The judges' scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 all in favor for the Filipino boxing legend.
Manny Pacquiao captured the vacant WBC super-welterweight title with a punishing 12-round unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.
Filipino hero Pacquiao won on all three judges' scorecards as he put a savage beating on Margarito and extended his win streak to 13 straight fights.
"He is really strong," Pacquiao said of Margarito. "I never expected him to be as strong as he was.
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"He hurt me in the body and in the face. I am so lucky tonight."
The southpaw Pacquiao used his hand speed and ring savvy to prevail in front of a crowd of over 50,000, despite giving up a 7.71 kg weight advantage.
Pacquiao has shown little sign of losing speed and power as he moves up in weight to fight bigger and stronger opponents, but he failed to score the knockout on Saturday.
Even so, the bout didn't turn into the same kind of dull affair as Pacquiao's fight against Joshua Clottey at the same venue in March.
Unlike Clottey, Margarito came to fight. He paid the price as he suffered a nasty gash under the right eye and had a huge welt that almost closed his left eye.
At one point in the 11th round Pacquiao appeared to look towards referee Laurence Cole as if he was trying to get the ref to stop the fight.
"I feel for my opponent," Pacquiao said. "His eyes (were swollen and cut) and bloody face. I wanted the ref to look at that.
"In 12th round I wasn't looking for the knockout. My trainer said take it easy."
Pacquiao, 31, entered the ring at 67.13kg while Margarito beefed up from 68.04kg at weigh-in to 74.84 kg by fight time.
Pacquiao dominated Margarito from the outset to capture his eighth title in as many weight classes. He is also the first Asian to hold four or more major world titles.
The Mexican had his moments Saturday and hurt Pacquiao in the eighth round when he landed a left uppercut on the button that snapped Pacquiao's head back.
Margarito was most effective when he had Pacquiao on the ropes but he failed to capitalise on his big height and weight advantage.
"We were going good until I got caught," Margarito said. "And then that is when the problems started coming."
Asked if he thought of quitting because of the punishment he was taking, Margarito said, "No, no way. I am Mexican and we fight until the end."
Pacquiao earned close to $A15 million dollars while Margarito collected about $A6 million.
It was Margarito's first fight in the United States since serving a one-year suspension after he got caught with plaster-filled hand wraps in his gloves prior to a fight against Shane Mosley.
Source: news.smh.com
Win by Pacquiao Pits Speed Over Size
Against his biggest opponent yet, in his eighth weight division, Pacquiao did what Pacquiao always does: he dipped and danced and fired southpaw, he ducked and spun and landed a tornado of combinations. When it ended, Pacquiao had earned his 13th straight victory and the World Boxing Council’s vacant 154-pound title, in a bloodbath, by unanimous decision.
“I can’t believe I beat somebody this big and this strong,” Pacquiao said.
With each round, Margarito’s face worsened, as if Pacquiao was painting a brutal boxing masterpiece. It went like this: seventh round, left eye closed; eighth round, bleeding from nose; ninth round, left cheek bruised; 10th round, fight nearly stopped.
In the 11th round, Pacquiao glanced at the referee, almost pleading for a stoppage. In the 12th, he took mercy, punching rarely, allowing Margarito to finish on his feet, after which he was taken to the hospital.
Immediately, talk turned toward the usual subject, toward Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a potential clash between boxing’s undisputed two best fighters. Pacquiao reiterated what he said throughout the past two months, that he does not need to battle Mayweather but wants to despite two failed rounds of negotiations.
“If the fight happens, it happens,” Pacquiao said. “If not, I’m satisfied with my career.”
Before the main event here, strategic shenanigans erupted in the locker rooms. Margarito’s trainer, Robert Garcia, successfully forced a second wrapping of Pacquiao’s hands. Meanwhile Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, accused Margarito of taking a banned substance — breathless debate labeled said substance Ephedra, ephedrine, Hydroxycut, or Splenda, but never produced a definitive answer — and Roach unsuccessfully lobbied for a prefight drug test.
The surreal atmosphere continued from there. The singer Nelly performed, as if plucked straight from a Super Bowl halftime show. Pacquiao bound into the ring with that grand grin spread wide, as “You’re the best,” blared from the stadium’s ample supply of speakers, before, as is his custom, he knelt and prayed. Only in Texas.
From the outset, Margarito towered over Pacquiao, but the smaller man attacked from all angles, delivering a typical array of stinging blows. Pacquiao kept charging, kept throwing, kept landing, including a left hand that staggered Margarito in the third.
In the fourth round, Pacquiao opened a welt underneath Margarito’s right eye, and the 41,734 assembled here rose to their collective feet, smelling knockout. Pacquiao darted around the slower Margarito, who often looked in slow motion.
Both Margarito and Garcia repeatedly insisted they never considered stopping the fight early, a strategy that Roach maintained would “ruin” Margarito’s career. Garcia called Margarito a warrior, but added, about Pacquiao: “He’s the best fighter in the world. He’s just too fast.”
In the weeks before the fight, it seemed Pacquiao appeared everywhere but inside a boxing ring. There was Pacquiao on “60 Minutes,” following President Barack Obama. There was Pacquiao on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” singing with Will Ferrell. There was Pacquiao in Las Vegas, stumping for Senator Harry Reid.
This worried Roach, but not to the extent to which those distractions were portrayed. Still, Roach made a point of sitting beside Pacquiao for 30 minutes during their flight from the Philippines to Los Angeles. There, Roach said he expressed his concerns to Pacquiao, who in turn told Roach he felt sluggish trying to maintain a weight of 150 pounds. Drop back down, Roach told him.
“We’re all spoiled,” Roach said over breakfast Thursday morning. “Usually, Manny Pacquiao gets ready for a fight in three weeks. This time, it took him eight. But he’s ready. He’ll knock him out.”
Against Margarito, Pacquiao eyed his somewhat disputed eighth championship in eight different weight divisions, regardless an unprecedented upward swing of nearly 50 pounds. In dispute were three of those fights, a linear championship in 2003 against Marco Antonio Barrera and two bouts — against Miguel Cotto and Margarito — that included catch weights below the maximum allowed in those divisions.
Source: nytimes
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