? Filipino secures unanimous points decision in Dallas
? Pacquiao takes vacant WBC light-middleweight belt
Manny Pacquiao more than made up with speed what he lacked in size, turning Antonio Margarito into a bloody mess with a dizzying array of punches in a lopsided decision victory for the vacant WBC light-middleweight title. In a spectacular performance before a delighted crowd of 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Pacquiao cemented his claim to being the best boxer in the world by dominating the bigger but slower Margarito almost from the opening bell.
Pacquiao ?who gave away 4�in in height and was at a six-inch reach disadvantage ? won round after round, opening a cut on Margarito's cheek and closing his right eye. Margarito tried to stalk Pacquiao around the ring, but every time he got close Pacquiao would land a four- or five-punch combination that snapped his head back and stopped him in his tracks.
The beating was so thorough that the congressman from the Philippines turned to the referee Laurence Cole several times in the 11th round, imploring him to stop the fight. It went on, though, even though Margarito had no chance to win.
"I can't believe that I beat someone this big and this strong," Pacquiao said. "It's hard. I really do my best to win the fight."
Pacquiao moved up in weight yet again to take on Margarito, a natural welterweight with a reputation for ruggedness in the ring. "There was no way I was going to quit. I'm a Mexican, we fight until the end," Margarito said.
Pacquiao won every round on one scorecard, 120-108, and was ahead 119-109 and 118-110 on the other two. "We didn't lose a round," said Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach. "I wish they would have stopped the fight."
That almost happened, but Cole allowed it to go on even as Margarito kept taking such a beating that he went directly to a hospital afterward for treatment of his cuts. There wasn't any way Margarito was going to win the fight, but he could still see out of one eye and wanted to continue. "I told the referee, 'Look at his eyes, look at his cuts,'" Pacquiao said. "I did not want to damage him permanently. That's not what boxing is about."
Ringside punch stats reflected Pacquiao's dominance, showing him landing 474 punches to 229 for Margarito. But it was not just the sheer volume of punches, but the power in which they came at almost every angle.
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