ARLINGTON, TEXAS- Manny Pacquiao continued his claim as the best in boxing with a dominant 12-round unanimous decision win over Antonio Margarito Saturday evening at Cowboys Stadium. He gave away 17-pounds to the bigger and slower Margarito and it did not seem to make a difference. Pacquiao won the WBC super welterweight title adding an unprecedented eighth world title to his impressive resume.
All three judges at ringside gave Pacquiao the edge, including one judge giving him every round 120-108. The scorecard here at ringside gave Margaritio one round. “It’s hard I really did my best to win the fight. He was strong and a very tough fighter,” commented Pacquiao. “I can’t believe that he was as strong as he was.”
Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO’s) won his 12th straight fight and admitted that Margarito, (38-7, 27KO’s) was strong enough to hurt him when he was in the ropes in the middle rounds. He motioned to referee Laurence Cole several times in the 11th round to stop the fight as Margaritio’s face was battered and a bloody mess.
“There was no way I was going to quit,” commented three-time champion Margarito after the fight. “I’m a Mexican. We fight until the end,” he said.
It was the second straight win for Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium before a crowd of 41,734, many Margarito supporters. Earlier this year, in March, he easily handled Joshua Clottey taking a 12-round unanimous decision, a seventh title and the welterweight championship.
As for a potential showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. at 154, a fight that has been anticipated and talked about, again Pacquiao left that answer to his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank. As for continuing his career, Mayweather or not, Pacquiao would not rule it out of the question.
The popular Congressman of the Philippines said, “I have another job after this. I’m going back to the Philippines to do my job as a public servant.”
“He was really fast and I was going- good until I got cut,” said Margarito. His trainer Robert Garrcia also said he never considered stopping the fight and it would continue until the end. Garcia also saw first hand as to why Pacquiao is indeed the best pound-for-pound fighter.
Said Garcia “Manny is the best fighter in the world. He is just too fast, Very, very quick.”
By the 10th round it became a boxing clinic for Pacquiao who continued to throw the right hook and pound the face of Margarito. In between rounds it became obvious that Margarito was fighting for redemption, proving that his year suspension from the ring from using illegal hand wraps was all in the books.
e-mail Rich Mancuso: [email protected]