It was without a doubt the biggest fight of the year and fight junkies here in the DFW Metroplex were the lucky recipients of Manny Pacquiao’s one-sided drubbing of Antonio Margarito. It was a fight that may have fallen short in the competitive aspect, a fact made clearly evident by Pacquiao’s complete domination of his Tijuana foe. Still, it was far more successful promotion than 95% of the boxing cards taking place in this. Though, such is the drawing power of the Filipino Congressman/Fighter that is Pacquiao.
Some random thoughts from the night:
– Pacquiao’s speed is uncanny. The way he was able to land three and four punch combos to the head of Margarito was unreal. Comparatively speaking, it was akin to seeing a sloth try to swat at a mosquito. Except this mosquito’s sting was infused with TNT.
– Margarito’s face bore the brunt of Pacquiao’s attack and in spite of his highly regarded chin; the “Tijuana Tornado” was battered beyond recognition. While he never when down in the fight, for which his corner should be criticized, the fact that Margarito had to be hospitalized following the bout is a scary thing. Fortunately, it appears that nothing too serious has befallen the fighter.
– The announced attendance for Saturday night’s fight was only a little over 41,000. This falls over 10,000 short of Pacquiao’s first fight at Cowboys Stadium. You ask me; the reason is that the novelty wore off. That, and the causal observer who witnessed Pacquiao beating Clottey, and the horrid undercard, probably isn’t going to shell out the ton of money to attend this event.
– Nothing like an “event” to bring out Dallas’ pretty people. The crowd on the floor looked like they were late to a party at the Ghost Bar. Not your true boxing fans to say the least.
– While I’m always excited to have a big fight here in the DFW, the sprawl of the Metroplex is a bit of a beating. The fight took place at Cowboys Stadium, but the media/fighter hotel was the Gaylord in Grapvine. Not exatcly close to anything other than Grapevine Mills Mall. If out of town guests wanted a taste of DFW, they were forced to rent a car.
Awesome Links
Friend of the site, Tim Starks, covered the fight beautifully over at The Queensberry Rules.
Maxboxing’s Steve Kim penned an interesting running diary of his time in Dallas here.
The Ring Magazine’s Eric Raskin wrote a hillarious PPV running diary here.
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