If the difference is wide enough and the faster man possesses punching accuracy as well, an opponent’s face can end up looking like Antonio Margarito’s did Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium: swollen, bloodied and with eyes reduced to slits that made him look like someone nervously peering through closed venetian blinds at a menacing force against whom he knew he was defenseless.
The freakish force of nature that battered the three-time welterweight champion was Manny Pacquiao, a fighter so quick and powerful it seems the size of his opponent is immaterial.
By the time the two of them entered the ring to fight over the World Boxing Council super welterweight title, Margarito outweighed Pacquiao by 17 pounds. Since he also stood 4 inches taller and held a six-inch reach advantage, it seemed as if Pacquiao had no physical advantage. This was true only if you dismissed the leveling effects of hand speed, agility and superior footwork and boxing technique. In each of those areas it was no contest. Because of that, so was the fight.
Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) was dominant from the opening bell, winning a unanimous decision in which judge Jurgen Langos gave Margarito not a single round and judge Oren Schellenberger gave him only one. The third judge, Glen Crocker, scored it 118-110, a bit of kindness Margarito neither deserved nor earned. The Herald card read 119-109, giving only the ninth round to Margarito.
What Margarito did deserve was better from his cornermen, who refused to stop a one-sided assault that had his right cheek split open by the fourth round and both his eyes closing so tightly he could not see the punches coming in the final few rounds.
Referee Laurence Cole stopped the bout several times to ask Margarito how many fingers he saw. Cole’s fingers were not the problem. Pacquiao’s fists were and after a time Margarito could neither avoid them nor answer their call.
It has been said many times that Margarito is blessed with one of the best chins in boxing. That was proven again in front of 41,734 witnesses but rather than allow him time to wear down his opponent this time its sturdiness became a co-conspirator with Pacquiao in a savage beating that sent him to the hospital.
“He’s a very tough guy,” Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said. “I’m surprised how tough. I wish they had stopped the fight. He has the worst corner in the world. His corner probably ruined his career. I thought Manny carried him the last few rounds. Manny is a very compassionate person.”
His handiwork seemed to argue against that, but Pacquiao tried to convince Cole to protect his opponent even though Margarito’s corner refused to. In the 11th round, he turned to Cole and implored him to stop what had become legalized assault before buckling Margarito’s knees with a combination.
“My opponent looked bad,” an unmarked Pacquiao said. “I wanted the referee to stop it. I told the referee, ‘Look at his eyes! Look at the cuts!’ I didn’t want to damage him permanently. That is not what boxing is about.”
Immediately after the fight, however, Margarito (38-7, 27 KO) insisted the right thing had been done despite visual evidence to the contrary.
“There was no way I was going to quit,” he said. “I’m a Mexican. We fight until the end.”
Said Robert Garcia, Margarito’s trainer, “Manny is the best fighter in the world. He’s just too fast. Very, very quick. But Margarito is a warrior. He would not allow me to stop it.”
Who asked for his permission? As Margarito’s chief second, it was Garcia’s responsibility to protect his fighter. In that area he failed him miserably for this was the kind of beating that does not go away. It leaves a piece of you behind in that arena and it never returns.
As for Pacquiao, he headed to Lake Tahoe where he will continue a budding career as a cabaret singer. Then it’s back to Manila to renew his work as a newly elected congressman while awaiting a bigger challenge.
“I have a job to do in the Philippines,” he said when asked if his future might include a showdown with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Twice efforts to make what would be the biggest fight in recent history have failed. Now Mayweather faces a Jan. 24 court date in Las Vegas to answer domestic abuse charges that carry a maximum 34 years in prison. Promoter Bob Arum said he would look to make the fight but needed assurances a trial would not interfere with the promotion.
Many have insisted the reason the fight hasn’t happened is because Mayweather is afraid of Pacquiao. If he is, after Saturday night who could blame him?
Source: bostonherald.com
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