Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (55-5, 38KO’s) made it a long twelve rounds for Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (31-2, 23KO’s) at the Venetian in Macau, China on Saturday night. Although there was talk of a knockout by both camps, Pacquiao decided to play it safe and just punish Rios for the entire fight. To some, it was a well deserved thrashing after all the trash talking of Rios and his camp leading to the fight.
Before the fight, it was not known how Pacquiao would perform after his devastating loss to Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) a year ago, but it appears that he has not lost a step. He came out in the first round landing his jab and connecting on Rios from all angles. His speed and ring movement was too much for the tough Rios and he managed to put Rios on the canvas, although it was ruled a slip. According to CompuBox, Pacquiao landed 20 of 54 punches to Rios 5 of 32 in the first round.
Although Rios normally fights with reckless abandon by just coming forward in attempts to turn fights into brawls, Pacquiao would not have any of it. Rios did say before the fight that he was just focused on winning – not the knockout, and it was apparent early on as he covered up as much as he could, and didn’t seem to want to let his hands go. The reason he did this was because Pacquiao was landing his jab and right hand so effectively, he had no chance to land the knockout punch he was looking for. He even admitted as much after the fight by saying “Manny did a great job. He is very fast.” Rios said he wanted the “best” Manny to fight with and after the fight, his own trainer Robert Garcia admitted, “We were prepared for the best Manny, and he showed and came back better than ever.”
Pacquiao continued to land combinations and move laterally around the ring and fought on the outside in the next several rounds, and Rios had no answer. Rios was able to land a few punches but he was quickly countered by the faster Pacquiao with endless combinations.
One of the most notable punches came in the fifth round when Pacquiao landed his jab and followed it up with a lightning right hand that knocked Rios’ head back and forced him to step backward. From this point on, Rios’ face was beginning to swell from all the hooks and right hands from the eight divisional world champion.
Another crowd pleasing punch came in the sixth round when Pacquiao landed a four punch combination starting with the jab, followed up with a huge left hand that again shook Rios’ head back violently. The rugged Rios shrugged it off, but it was obvious that it did hurt. Pacquiao continue to tag Rios throughout this round with punches from all angles.
By the seventh round, both of Rios’eyes and his face were beginning to swell from the numerous punches that Pacquiao was administering on the younger former champion. Pacquiao then started to connect with uppercuts as he pummeled Rios throughout the next round. It wasn’t until the eighth round when blood was noticeably starting to trickle from the left puffed up eye of Rios and his corner was seen working on it just after the bell sounded.
By the ninth round, Rios’ entire face was beginning to swell and his left eye continued to bleed as the fight commenced. Nevertheless, the game Rios fought on, but as much as he tried, he had yet to land any power punches to hurt the Philippine champion. At this point Rios seemed content to just cover up as he moved methodically forward hoping to land that one big punch.
Pacquiao was putting on a show for the more than 13,000 in attendance at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian Macao and they cheered with every punch that he landed.
Pacquiao continued with his boxing clinic in the eleventh and twelfth round and it appeared that he eased off because he knew he had already won the fight. According to CompuBox, Pacquiao had a total of 281 punches landed to Rios’ 138, 790 thrown to 502, a 36% to 27% advantage. Manny Pacquaio went on to win the WBO International Welterweight Title by a unanimous decision with the cards reading 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110.
After the fight, Pacquio’s trainer Freddie Roach, was very happy about the fight and said “All I can say is, many Manny punches," "He fought the perfect fight. He let him off the hook. I wanted him to knock him out.” Regarding the speculation if he was back, Pacquiao said, “This is still my time," "My time is not over." And because of the typhoon destruction in his country, Pacquiao went on to say “this isn't about my comeback," he insisted. "My victory is a symbol of my people's comeback from a natural disaster, a national tragedy. It's really important to bring honor to my country with this win."
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