Manny Pacquiao more than made up with speed what he lacked in size, turning Antonio Margarito into a bloody mess with a dizzying array of punches on Saturday night in a lopsided decision victory.
In a spectacular performance before a delighted crowd of 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao cemented his claim to being the best boxer in the world by dominating the bigger but slower Margarito almost from the opening bell.
Pacquiao won round after round, opening a cut on Margarito’s cheek and closing his right eye.
Photo: AFP
The punches came quickly, and they came often. Margarito was plenty game as he tried to stalk Pacquiao around the ring, but every time he got close, Pacquiao would land a four or five-punch combination that snapped his head back and stopped him in his tracks.
The beating was so thorough that Pacquiao turned to referee Laurence Cole several times in the 11th round, imploring him to stop the fight. It went on, though, even though Margarito had no chance to win.
“I can’t believe that I beat someone this big and this strong,” Pacquiao said. “It’s hard. I really do my best to win the fight.”
Photo: REUTERS
Pacquiao moved up in weight yet again to take on Margarito, a natural welterweight with a reputation for ruggedness in the ring.
And rugged he was, though he took a beating all night long at the hands of a faster and seemingly more powerful opponent.
“There was no way I was going to quit. I’m a Mexican, we fight until the end,” Margarito said.
Photo: AFP
Pacquiao won every round on one scorecard, 120-108, and was ahead 119-109 and 118-110 on the other two. The Associated Press had it a 120-108 shutout.
“We didn’t lose a round,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. “I wish they would have stopped the fight.”
That almost happened, but Cole allowed it to go on even as Margarito kept taking a beating. There wasn’t any way Margarito was going to win the fight, but he could still see out of one eye and wanted to continue.
“I told the referee look at his eyes, look at his cuts,” Pacquiao said. “I did not want to damage him permanently. That’s not what boxing is about.”
Ringside punch stats reflected Pacquiao’s dominance, showing him landing 474 punches to 229 for Margarito.
HAYE V HARRISON
Reuters, MANCHESTER, England
David Haye retained his WBA world heavyweight title with a third-round technical knockout against fellow Briton Audley Harrison on Saturday.
Both boxers were booed by the crowd at the MEN arena after a slow opening to the contest, but Haye stepped up the pace in the third round, knocking Harrison down before launching another flurry of punches that forced the referee to stop the fight.
“I had a lot of money on the third round, so did a lot of my friends and family. I told everyone I would knock him out in three rounds and that’s what I did,” Haye said.
The fight, Haye’s second title defense, was seen as Harrison’s last chance to make amends for an underwhelming career following his Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games, but the challenger never got going.
Haye took the early initiative, although punches were at a premium leading to a chorus of boos from the crowd and a request from the referee for the boxers to get on with the fight.
Haye did just that with his speed and power proving too much for Harrison in the third when the challenger hit the canvas and took an eight count before facing another barrage of punches.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),