Joe Robbins Weighs in on Pacquiao and Margarito

Manny Pacquiao entered his title bout with Antonio Margarito shorter and skinnier and left a world champion. Again.

For the unprecedented eighth time, the Philipino sensation was crowned champion, this time after tactically brutalizing the bigger, mightier Margarito in a performance Yahoo! Sports boxing columnist described as, “a clinic by the best in the world.”
What he lacked in size, the diminutive champ made up for in speed, quickly neutralizing Margarito’s superior length with jab after jab and dance steps that never seemed to wane throughout the fight.
While his duties as a congressman in the Sarangani Province led to questions about his conditioning, Pacquiao’s movement and stamina put any pre-fight concerns about his training to rest.
Giving up 17 pounds, four and a half inches in height and six and a half inches in reach to the powerful Margarito, the illustrious speedster established himself early in the fight and never looked back.
Armed with a flurry of punches that were delivered in beautiful combinations in response to single punches thrown by Margarito (38-7), Pacquiao (52-3) fought the fight of his career in front of a delighted crowd of 41,734.
His size advantage a non-factor, Margarito lumbered forward, trying to land the power punches that gave him career-defining knockouts of Kermit Cintron and Miguel Cotto.
On this night, the 148-pounder owned the power stats, landing 411 power punches to Margarito’s 135. Overall, Pacquiao landed 44% of his punches, compared to Margarito’s paltry 28%.
As much as the numbers reflect a one-sided affair, they do not capture the true dominance exhibited by Pacquiao. For every punch Margarito landed, Pacquiao responded with a flurry, a five or six-punch combination that often sent Margarito reeling.
By the fourth round, Margarito had a nasty cut under his right eye–a testament to Pacquiao’s punishing left hand. The eye was soon swollen shut and it was clear that Margarito’s only hope for victory was a knockout.
With the way Pacquiao was moving, it was evident that if anybody was going down it was going to be Margarito.
Margarito, who was known for his strong chin as much as his powerful fists, continued to brave the beating for twelve rounds, avoiding a knockout.
The fight should have been called after the ninth or tenth round with Margarito’s swollen eye preventing him from being able to defend himself from Pacman’s onslaught. The beating was so bad that Pacquiao appealed to the referee in the 11th round, asking him to stop the fight.
Officially, the three judges scored the fight 118-110, 119-109 and 120-108, awarding Pacquiao 10, 11 and 12 rounds, respectively. Israel Sports Radio scored the fight 119-109, giving Margarito the sixth round, but the scores were almost irrelevant as Pacquiao’s dominance was strikingly apparent to any spectator.
The bout was Margarito’s first major fight since serving a one-year suspension for illegal plaster gauze that was found in his hand wraps before his fight against Shane Mosley. Margarito was hoping to use this fight to cap his unlikely comeback from the disastrous cheating affair.
Instead, Pacquiao capped his Hall of Fame career, winning his 13th straight bout.
Manny Pacquiao is a bandleader, a congressman, an international superstar. He wears many hats and he owns many belts. On Saturday night he added another one, in classic fashion