Pacquiao: Margarito one tough customer

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS—While he turned  Antonio Margarito into a bloody mess Saturday night (Sunday in Manila),  Manny Pacquiao also bore the brunt of the Mexican’s powerful shots. Wearing a brown fedora that matched his brown trenchcoat, Pacquiao’s face showed traces of the power thrown by a full-blown middleweight like Margarito.

Aside from bruises, Pacquiao emerged from the encounter with a swollen right hand, the result of pounding Margarito with a torrent of heavy punches. Certainly the fight wasn’t easy as envisioned by trainer Freddie Roach, who underestimated Margarito’s  strength.  “This is the hardest fight of my boxing career,” Pacquiao said during the postfight conference at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington City. “Margarito is very big and strong.” Judge J Langos saw Pacquiao winning all rounds for 120-108. Glen Crocker gave Margarito the sixth and eighth round for 118-110 ;  and Schellenberger handed Margarito the sixth for 119-109. The Inquirer also scored it 120-108. Margarito entered the ring at 165 pounds,  gaining 15 lb in 22 hours after coming in at an exact 150 during the weigh-in Friday for the WBC super welterweight showdown.  Pacquiao fought at 148 from 144.6 during the weigh-in.  The additional weight slowed down Margarito further, however, making him a sitting duck for Pacquiao’s whirlwind attack. Pacquiao went on to unleash 474 power shots against  Margarito, 411 of which found their mark. Still, Margarito kept on coming in as he promised.  One particular  body shot nearly took the wind out of the Filipino pound-for-pound king. “He got me with a body shot in the sixth. I’m lucky to survive that round,” said Pacquiao, who improved his record to 52-3-2 with 38 knockouts. Pacquiao said he felt that he had the fight under control after the first two rounds, which he dominated, and the third when he wobbled Margarito with combinations to the head and body. Though he dominated Margarito, Pacquiao was impressed with his rival’s great heart. Lesser mortals would have thrown in the towel as early as the 10th, but the Mexican, trying to redeem Mexican pride and regain his reputation, simply did not quit. He was so unlike big guys Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, who reverted to retreat mode when Pacquiao was pounding them hard. Unable to take the fierce exchange of punches, Pacquiao’s mother, Aling Dionisia, who was watching her son for the first time, fainted late in the bout. Photo by Associated Press NOTES: Zyrene Parsad sang the national anthem, resplendent in a red terno. Joining her at the stage, waving the Philippine flag was Bacolod City Mayor Bing Leonardia. Spotted among the crowd were boxing Hall-of-Famer Roberto Duran and former Pacquiao victim Marco Antonio Barrera. The crowd began to trickle in at 6 a.m., slowly growing in size during the televised undercard bouts.