ARLINGTON, Tex. – Manny Pacquiao’s congregation wore T-shirts that said it all. Say it all.
Manny Knows
Does he ever.
There’s never a hint of doubt in that enigmatic smile and child-like eyes. Pacquiao never doubts. He just believes and on Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium he crushed those doubts and Antonio Margarito with hands that deliver an unrivalled mix of speed and power.
Questions about Pacquiao’s commitment and priorities were everywhere and building for weeks before he would challenge for an unprecedented eighth title, junior middleweight, at a catch weight. He was said to be more of a politician than a puncher since his election to the Filipino Congress. The guessing game was that he wanted a political title more than a boxing one. When he isn’t in the ring, maybe he does.
But at opening bell, this Congressman is still the pound-for-pound champion.
Margarito never had a chance in losing a decision. It was more than unanimous. It was one-sided. Judge Jurgen Langos scored it 120-108. It was 118-100 on Glen Crocker’s card. Oren Schellenbruger had it 119-109. On the 15 Rounds card, Margarito won only one round, the eighth, out of the scheduled 12. Even that one might qualify as a gift to the gutsy Margarito, who withstood a blinding succession of combinations and was clearly finished after the ninth.
“He is a tough fighter,’’ said Pacquiao, (52-3-2, 38 KOs), who said he was hurt by body punch along the ropes in the sixth.
But he is a slow fighter.
That became oh-so-evident quickly.
Seconds after the opening bell, Pacquiao was more effective with a consistent jab and an accurate right that began to expose Margarito’s ponderous lack of speed.
Pacquiao’s right landed, landed and landed in the first round. There it was again in the second, even in the face of a more aggressive Margarito, who landed an uppercut that served as an early warning and a powerful reminder that standing still was a one-way ticket to defeat for the Filipino.
Suddenly, a crowd announced at 41,734 began to witness answers to questions about Pacquiao had done the roadwork. He had. From round-to-round, Margarito moved forward. He knows no other way.
Through at least seven rounds, Pacquiao darted out of the corner, off the ropes, around Margarito as he landed a bewildering array of punches off-balance and always on the fly.
“He is the fastest fighter of our era,’’ Margarito trainer Robert Garcia said. “We’ve never seen anything like him.’’
In the later rounds, Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) had trouble seeing at all.
In the third round, Pacquiao opened up a cut below Margarito’s right eye with an uppercut. With each round, the swelling grew and it looked as if it began to affect Margarito’s vision. By the 11th, even Pacquaio was concerned. He turned and seemed to ask referee Laurence Cole to stop it.
“My opponent looked bad,’’ Pacquiao said. “I didn’t want to damage him permanently.’’
But damage might have been done to Margarito’s future as fighter. At least, Roach thought so.
Margarito, Roach said, has “the worst corner.’’ Garcia, he said, should have stopped the fight to save Margarito’s career. But Margarito would not quit and said so in the ring after it was over. His pride, his Mexican heritage, would not permit surrender, he said. Still, there was no chance at victory either.
Magarito came into the ring just three pounds lighter than a super-middleweight and 17 pounds heavier than Pacquiao, who at 148 pounds was just one heavier than a welterweight.
Margarito gained 15 pounds between weigh-in and opening bell. He grabbed the water bottle after stepping off the official scale Friday and must have kept room service busy with orders for pasta, more pasta, for the next few hours.
But the early issue involved something that isn’t on any menu. Ephedra, a stimulant, is illegal. Roach suggested that Margarito might have been sprinkling it onto that pasta, or spiking his breakfast cup of coffee with the stuff.
In the end, neither the pounds nor ephedra, not anything else mattered.
But like the T-shirt said Pacquiao already knew that.
A good, sometimes great fight, unfolded while laptops at ringside were abuzz with tweets about a locker room debate initiated by Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, who asked that Antonio Margarito undergo drug testing for ephedra, an illegal stimulant.
It wasn’t clear who was winning in the locker room.
It also wasn’t clear who was winning in the ring between Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (23-0, 18 KOs) and Mexican Jesus Soto-Karass (24-5-3, 16 KOs). In the end, Jones got the nod, a 12-round majority decision, over Soto-Karass.
Jones and Karass brought the crowd to its feet with a toe-to-toe, free-swinging exchange in the second. Jones won the round. For awhile, however, it looked as if had lost the fight. He nearly exhausted himself and Soto-Karass capitalized with stubborn aggressiveness and body shots followed by head-rocking right hands. Judge Serio Caiz scored it 97-93 for Jones. Jones won, 95-94, on Levi Martinez’ card. Gale Van Hoy scored it 94-94, leaving Soto-Karass with a tough loss to go along with bloody cuts near both eyes.
Guillermo Rigondeaux (7-0, 5 KOs), an Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, won a fight, but no fans. They had a new way to spell his name, as in Rigondull.
That’s what his split decision over Panamanian Ricardo Cordoba (37-3-2, 23 KOs) for a World Boxing Association interim junior-featherweight title was: Dull, dull and duller. Did we forget to say dull?
The only cheers were for legendary Roberto Duran, who accompanied Cordoba into the ring. After that, there were yawns, then boos and even the wave, which might have been the most derisive gesture from bored fans awaiting Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito.
For awhile, it sounded as if the restless crowd was watching the Cowboys, who have yet to win a game this NFL season on the home turf beneath the ring.
Rigondeaux escaped with a victory, in part because Cordoba went down on to a knee in the fourth from an apparent body shot. The Cuban won 117-109 on one judge’s card and 114-112 on a second. The third judge scored it 114-112 for Cordoba.
For the first time in days, there were cheers for Brandon Rios, who had been booed for mocking Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s symptoms in a controversial video.
Rios was booed at Friday’s weigh-in.
He was booed when he walked to the ring Saturday for the first fight on the HBO pay-per-view telecast that featured Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito. And booed when he stepped through the ropes. And when he was introduced.
The cheers came later, after Rios (26-0-1, 19 KOs), a super-lightweight from Oxnard, Calif., was declared the winner by TKO over Omri Lowther (14-3, 10 KOs) of Valdosta, Ga.
Rios cut off the ring, cut off every avenue of escape and began to subject Lowther to a withering succession of body punches. In the fifth, a few well-placed head shots brought about the inevitable end for an exhausted Lowther.
An Antonio Margarito sparring partner was beaten up in the gym and beaten Saturday night on the card’s opening bout.
Los Angeles welterweight Rashad Holloway (11-2-2, 5 KOs) lost an unanimous decision to Dennis Laurente (35-3-4, 17 KOs), one of Manny Pacquiao’s fellow Filipinos.
Fellow Filipinos already in their seats at Cowboys Stadium probably hoped that was a good sign for their revered Congressman in a main event scheduled to start six hours after the opener. For Margarito fans, it might have been a sign of what they hope he will do to Pacquiao.
Margarito reportedly hurt Holloway in sparring. One of his injuries was reported to be a dislocated eye socket. Holloway never had a chance against Laurente, who won seven of eight rounds on one card, six on another and five on the third.
In the second bout, Mexican super-lightweight Oscar Meza (20-4, 17 KOs) left no questions, scoring a knockdown in the fourth and final round for a unanimous decision over Jose Hernandez (10-3, 4 KOs) of Dallas.
There were some questions in the third fight. Filipino flyweight Richie Mepranum (17-3-1, 3 KOs) got the favorable answer, an eight-round split decision over Anthony Villareal (10-4, 6 KOs), of Perris, Calif.
Phoenix prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. (9-0, 9 KOs) knocked fellow super-lightweight Winston Mathis (6-3, 2 KOs) of Stockbridge, Ga., down and around, but never much sense into him.
After scoring two knockdowns in the first round, Benavidez sent Mathis up and back onto his heels with a looping right that landed with the impact of bat onto a fastball. Referee Neal Young looked into the hazy daze of Mathis’ eyes. What he saw was obvious: The end.
Young stopped it at 2:24 of the third. But the stoppage angered Mathis, who for a moment raised his hands and ran at Young as if he had decided to continue the fight against a different opponent. Mathis lost that one, too
Notre Dame graduate Mike Lee did to Keith Debow what the Irish used to do to Navy. He mauled him. Lucky for Debow, this one didn’t last four quarters.
It was over at 1:33 of the first round.
Lee’s report record as a light-heavyweight remained perfect (3-0) with his second knockout, which came about as a result of big right hand followed by several more against defenseless Debow (0-3-1), a St. Louis who leaned on a neutral ring post as though it if it were the only thing keeping him up and in the ring.
First-round stoppages began to become a theme in the next bout, the sixth on a card scheduled for 11. Dallas featherweight Robert Marroquin (17-0, 13 KOs) scored the encore, knocking down Mexican Francisco Dominguez (8-8, 7 KOs) twice within 87 seconds for a TKO victory at 1:27 of the first.
It was a swing fight. For super-featherweights Angel Rodriguez (6-4-2, 4 KOs) of Houston and Juan Martin Elorde (11-1, 4 KOs) of the Philippines, it was swing and mostly miss through flour erratic rounds. Rodriguez missed less often Elorde. He scored a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Filipino.
Photo By Cgris Farina / Top Rank
