By Abac Cordero (The Philippine Star) Updated November 15, 2010 12:00 AM
DALLAS – Manny Pacquiao reached yet another revered place in boxing history with a methodical destruction of Mexican Antonio Margarito for the WBC super-welterweight crown at the Cowboys Stadium Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
The Filipino icon simply dominated the bigger, taller and heavier former three-time world champion right from the opening bell to earn an unprecedented eighth world title in as many weight divisions with a unanimous decision win.
Pacquiao carried the fight to the game Margarito who was seeking a victory for his own ring redemption with all the deadly tools in his arsenal - hand speed, power and ring savvy - in a bout watched by 41,734 fans at the cavernous stadium and millions more around the world.
So dominant was Pacquiao in the contest, leaving Margarito nearly half-blind with swollen right eye that at one point in the 11th round the Filipino fighter virtually implored referee Laurence Cole to stop the carnage.
Margarito hung on to finish the 12-round bout but was so beaten up he was rushed to the hospital afterwards for an MRI and other precautionary measures.As early as the fourth round, his right eye started to swell and soon after it started to bleed.
A couple of times late in the fight, the referee had to check on his eyes if he could still see. The doctor also kept his eyes on Margarito in the closing rounds.
If not for his heart the size of the massive stadium, or his braveness and determination to keep on fighting, Margarito could have easily gone down, early, or could have signaled anyone among his cornermen to simply throw in the towel. But he did not, and for that he was also applauded in the end.
Margarito was always there in front of Pacquiao, marching toward the Filipino, and walking through some of the biggest punches the reigning pound-for-pound champion, also a congressman back home, had thrown in his entire career. It could have felled any lesser opponent, but not this 32-year-old Mexican former three-time world champ.
Pacquiao had marks all over his face as well. He did get hit a good number of times, but only when he opted to, either by standing in front of Margarito or trading blows with the heavier boxer or when he tried to test the power of his opponent, as he had wrongfully done in some of his previous fights.
Pacquiao showed up at the post-fight press conference with swollen hands, and apologized to everybody because he said he couldn’t sign any autographs.
Prior to the fight, there were talks about Pacquiao’s retirement from the ring, so he could focus on his new job as congressman of the lone district in Sarangani province back home.
But an hour after the fight, Pacquiao said retirement is not part of his immediate plans.
“Yes. I am still strong. I will continue fighting,” he said while trying to evade a question whether Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be his next opponent. He said it’s the job of his promoter to set up the fight.
It was freezing cold outside the $1.2 billion stadium while Pacquiao was carving out the victory, and as he was carving out an even bigger place in boxing history. Once again, right after the fight, his promoter, Bob Arum, hailed him as “the best fighter” he’d ever seen in his more than 40 years in the sport.
Pacquiao, who won the first of his eight world titles as a flyweight (112 lb) almost 12 years ago, tipped the scales in Friday’s official weigh-in at 144.6 lb, and climbed the ring at 148 lb, just almost the same weight he carried in his fights against bigger men like Oscar dela Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey.
Margarito, five inches taller at 5-feet-11, barely made the catchweight of 150 lb, and added up a grand total of 15 lb overnight. On the HBO scales, he was at 165 lb by the time he came out of the dressing room to face Pacquiao, in the hope that the difference in height and heft would spell the difference.
As seen by millions from around the globe, it did not.
“Manny was very fast. We were doing good until I got cut and that’s when all the problems started coming in. He’s very fast. But there was no way (for him to quit). I’m a Mexican, and will fight till the end,” Margarito told fight commentators on top of the ring.
“He’s the best fighter in the world. He’s just too fast,” said Margarito’s trainer, Robert Garcia, who held on to his fighter as they walked away from the ring, a white towel almost covering the boxer’s head.
Garcia said he never thought of stopping the fight because he said “Tony (Margarito) is a warrior.”
Until the final bell, Margarito was there hoping to land the punch that can turn things around, and give him the victory that can erase the stigma of the incident involving the illegal handwraps for his fight with Shane Mosley in January last year. That led to a one-year suspension for the native of Tijuana.
The ring doctor said his only concern late in the fight was that if Margarito could still see. He knew the damage to those eyes were getting worse, but each time he consulted the Mexican corner, he was told that yes, Margarito can still see.
Cole, who refereed Pacquiao’s 2003 showdown with Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio, Texas, said stopping the fight had crossed his mind somewhere in the late rounds.
“I was looking for a chance to stop the fight but Margarito kept fighting back,” he said.
True enough, Margarito did fight back. But Pacquiao fought back even harder each time he got hit by the Mexican. Yet, he failed to put the Mexican away, and score a knockout which his trainer, Freddie Roach, had promised or had hoped would come.
“I can’t believe it. He was really strong. I really did my best to win. He was strong and I got hurt, too. I was hurt in the body and the face because of his uppercuts,” said Pacquiao.
Judge Juergen Langos of Germany had it all for Pacquiao (120-108), while Glen Crocker gave the sixth and eighth rounds to Margarito (118-110), and Oren Shellenberger also had the Mexican taking the sixth round (119-109).
Yet another unanimous victory, indeed, for Pacquiao.
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