Pacquiao Retains Title, Beats Mosley

Pacquiao vs Mosley

Manny Pacquiao successfully defended his WBO Welterweight title after a dominating performance against Sugar Shane Mosley. He didn’t get the knockout win everyone is expecting though.

Both fighters promised an entertaining fight and a lot of people thought so too. However, MGM Grand was filled with boos as the Pacman ran after Mosley. It was as if Pacquiao was the challenger of the title fight and he was trying to press action. This started after the third-round knockdown of Sugar Shane. He felt Pacquiao’s power and did a lot of backpedalling to finish the 12-round bout.

“I fought the best fighter in the world,” Mosley said. “He has exceptional power, power that I’ve never been hit like this before.”

Pacquiao also seemed hesitant to engage because of the cramp on his left leg.

“I thought Shane did a great job, he had some speed,” Pacquiao said. “I couldn’t move because my left leg got tight. It’s a problem I’ve been having lately. I’m going to work on my legs in future training camps.”

Things started to get exciting after referee Kenny Bayless mistakenly ruled that Mosley knocked Pacquiao down in the 10th round. Pacquiao went after Mosley until the eleventh round trying to put the American down on the canvass. But the cramp was really bothering him, he couldn’t finish Mosley off.

Manny on via unanimous decision with 120-108, 120-107, and 119-108 on the scorecards.

Source:
Yahoo! Boxing

Pacquiao beats Margarito – Wins 8th Title

Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao wins his 8th title in eight weight divisions as he smothered Antonio Margarito with lefts and rights for twelve rounds. It was almost a one-sided fight with me thinking that it was a shutout performance by the PacMan as he succeeded to claim the vacant WBC Super Welterweight title with a 150-pound catchweight.

Pacquiao vs Margarito

Pacquiao entered the ring at 148 lbs while the Tijuana Tornado had a 17-pound advantage at 165. The PacMan also gave up almost 5 inches in height and 6 inches in reach. But after the bell sounded for the first round, speed and skill dictated the tempo. And those were the factors that determined the outcome.

Manny used his footwork, head and lateral movements, and his superior speed. When Margarito stalked on him, flurry of punches would start to connect from everywhere. Manny landed a total of 474 punches against Margarito’s 229. Pacquiao even looked at referee Laurence Cole, later in the bout, asking him to stop the fight but Cole allowed it to go on. The Mexican had a cut under the right eye and was almost closed during the later rounds. I remembered Margarito, on HBO’s 24/7, saying that when Manny gets in the ring, he’d probably think, “What have I gotten myself into?“. Margarito could’ve been asking that himself after the first round.

Even though the Filipino dynamo dominated the fight, he had a hard time putting the Mexican down to the canvass. Margarito is really tough. He even smiled at Manny after a combination of punches landed on his face. Manny was quick to admit to his opponent’s toughness,

“I did my best,” Pacquiao said. “He’s strong. He’s a very tough fighter. I can’t believe [he took those punches].” – Yahoo! Sports

Congratulations Manny Pacquiao for this great win! And thank you for a very entertaining bout. God bless.

Pound For Pound

Manny Pacquiao unleashed a barrage of punches, dominated, and ended the bout with a TKO over Miguel Cotto. The bout dubbed as “Firepower”, held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, not only cemented the Pacman’s claim to the mythical pound-for-pound title but also made him the only boxer to hold seven titles in seven different weight classes as he captured the Puerto Rican’s WBO Welterweight title.

Manny Pacquiao

Pacquiao knocked down Cotto twice – in the third and fourth rounds. But Cotto, the warrior that he is, continued to fight using his jabs and left hooks. Pacman used Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope in the early rounds not to tire Cotto but to show that he can take his opponent’s punches. When Pacquiao started to follow their gameplan, things looked so easy for him. He landed combinations too fast for Cotto to see. The Puerto Rican didn’t have any answer to the lightning hand speed of Manny and started to backpedal in order to survive. And in the 55th second mark of the 12th round, referee Kenny Bayless halted the fight to save Cotto for more punishments he might receive.

Congratulations to both boxers for putting up a great fight. Congratulations to Miguel Cotto for showing a gallant stand in defending his title. Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao for fighting with all heart and courage.

Mabuhay, Manny Pacquiao!

Sources:
Yahoo! Sports
The Ring Magazine