November 13, 2010, Arlington, Texas – Antonio Margarito may have been bigger in size than Manny Pacquiao, but the Filipino boxer covered what he lacked in size with speed and a dizzying array of jabs, uppercuts, and punches that left the former in a bloody mess.
The much awaited fight between Margarito and Pacquiao ended in a lopsided decision with Margarito suffering from multiple cuts on his face. The match was spectacular that it delighted more than 41,000 people who gathered at the Cowboys Stadium as well as millions who watched all over the world.
Pacquiao cemented his claim to being the best boxer in the entire world by dominating the bigger Antonio Margarito as quickly as the opening bell.
Round after round, Pacquiao stole the show and even managed to open a cut on his opponents cheek and closed in on his right eye. Pacquiao showered Margarito with punches that came quickly and frequently. At some point Margarito started stalking Pacquiao around the ring, but just as he came close, Pacquiao threw some 4- or 5-punch combos that stunned Margarito.
The beating was very thorough, and although the Philippine congressman, Pacquiao, paused several times and turned to Laurence Cole, the referee, imploring him to stop the fight, it went on. Margarito had no chance of winning.
Pacquiao said, “I can’t believe that I beat someone this big and this strong… It’s hard. I really do my best to win the fight.”
Margarito is known for being rugged in the ring, and this was best displayed during his fight with Pacquiao. He took all the punches all night long at the hands of his opponent who was much smaller than him. When asked why he did not quit, Margarito said, “There was no way I was going to quit. I’m a Mexican, we fight until the end.”
And he did hold on until the 12th round. However, every single round on the scorecard showed that Pacquiao never lost a single round. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer said, “We didn’t lose a round… I wish they would have stopped the fight.”
Cole allowed the fight to continue, and as far as Margarito was concerned, as long as he could see with one eye, he would go down fighting. He continued and persevered until the last round.
Regarding the cuts, Pacquiao said, “I told the referee, ‘Look at his eyes, look at his cuts,’… I did not want to damage him permanently. That’s not what boxing is about.”
As far as the stats were concerned, Pacquiao totally dominated the fight as statistics showed that he threw 474 punches in contrast to Margarito’s 229 punches. However, it was not just that Pacquiao threw a lot of punches, but more on the fact that the punches were powerful and they attacked almost all angles.
Even Margarito’s trainer said, “Manny is the best fighter in the world. He is just too fast – very, very quick.”
While there was no drama once the two fighters faced each other, there was a bit of controversy in the dressing rooms where a member of Pacquiao’s camp saw some weight-loss supplements among Margarito’s gear and requested that a drug test be performed. However the boxing officials saw no need to do so, so the fight went on.
There was also a bit of commotion when Margarito’s team demanded that Roach rewrap Pacquiao’s hands in a display of gamesmanship. This Roach did without much hassle.
For his victory, Pacquiao was guaranteed a $15 million prize, as well as possible millions more from his cut from television revenues. He is set to give a concert at Lake Tahoe before resuming his duties as the Philippine Congress.