ARLINGTON – The fly did the swatting.
Manny Pacquiao gave away 17 pounds, 4 ½ inches in height and six inches in reach to Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night but proved the giant in the ring.
Pacquiao, who entered the ring at 148 pounds, handed Margarito a boxing lesson. Still, Margarito, 165 pounds when he entered the ring, never stopped coming. He was as straight forward as advertised. But every time Margarito appeared to mount any sort of attack, it simply seemed to energize Pacquiao, who was awarded a lopsided unanimous decision by the three ring side judges in the WBC 154-pound championship.
Pacquiao, 5-6 ½ weighed in at 144.6 pounds on Friday and beefed up to 148 pounds when he entered the ring. Margarito, who weighed in Friday at the contracted 150-pound limit ballooned to 165 pounds in less than 30 hours.
"I can't believe I beat someone this big and this strong." Pacquiao said.
Judge Jurgen Langos of Germany scored it 120-108, a shutout. Texans Glen Crocker and Oren Schellenburger had it 118-110 and 119-109.
It is Pacquiao's eighth championship at an eighth different weight class. He won his first world championship as a 112-pound flyweight in 1998.
It was as if Pacquiao came to fight with loaded gloves.
He threw an astounding 1069 punches, landing 474. Margarito threw 817 and landed 229.
Pacquiao looked like a Kentucky Derby thoroughbred coming out of the gate while Margarito played the part of lumbering Clydesdale. Margarito threw effective jabs early, but Pacquiao threw combinations throughout.
Finally, two opponents showing heart inside Cowboys Stadium. The relatively disappointing crowd of 43,162 was not disappointed. Fans were on their feet from the opening bell. Margarito finished with a closed right eye and a left eye that was almost there. Referee Laurence Cole stopped the fight in the 11th round to check Margarito's vision. Margarito never stopped advancing.
Pacqiuiao said he eased up on his Margarito in the 12th round, afraid he would do permanent damage to his opponent.
It was Pacquiao who delivered the first major assault of punches in the fourth round, his powerful left hand landing almost at will, opening a cut under Margarito's right eye that ballooned. He never looked back.
There was plenty of pre-fight drama in the locker rooms. Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, complained that Margarito had taken Ephedra, a banned stimulant and demanded an immediate urinalysis. The Texas regulators in charge of the bout refused and said Margarito would undergo a routine complete drug screening following the fight.
Margarito's trainer Robert Garcia countered, complaining about the way Pacquiao's hands were wrapped. Garcia wanted Pacquiao's hands re-wrapped. He was denied.
The drama did not delay the start of the fight.
Margarito has a history with illegal hand wraps, discovered before his last major fight against Shane Mosley in January, 2009. Margarito's license was suspended in California. He was denied re-instatement in an August hearing. That has kept him out of boxing in California and Nevada, which has stood vigilantly by California's ban.
As impressive as it was, the crowd of 41,734 wasn't close to the record for boxing paid attendance in Texas. The Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez WBC welterweight title bout in 1993 sported a paid attendance of 58,891 at the Alamodome in San Antonio . The indoor attendance record is 63,315 for Muhammad Ali's heavyweight championship victory over Leon Spinks in New Orleans' Superdome.
Pacquiao improved his record to 52-3-2 with 38 knockouts. Margarito dropped to 38-7, with 27 knockouts.)
Pacquiao guaranteed $15 million, Margarito $3 million but those purses are expected to increase substantially when the pay-per-view revenue is totaled and divided.
"Manny is the best fighter in the world," Maragrito's trainer Robert Garcia said.
Source: http://www.dallasnews.com
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