Filipino champ Pacquiao goes distance to beat Margarito

Manny Pacquiao captured the vacant World Boxing Council super welterweight title with a punishing 12-round unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night.

Filipino hero Pacquiao won on all three judges’ scorecards as he put a savage beating on Margarito and extended his win streak to 13 straight fights.

“A really hard fight,” Pacquiao said. “The hardest fight of my boxing career. Margarito is really fast and strong. He is big, bigger than me.”

The southpaw Pacquiao used his hand speed and ring savvy to prevail in front of a crowd of over 41,000, despite giving up a 17-pound weight advantage.

“I never expected him to be as strong as he was,” Pacquiao said. “He hurt me in the body and in the face. I am so lucky tonight.”

One judge scored the fight 120-109 while the other two had it 119-109 and 118-110.

Pacquiao has shown little sign of losing speed and power as he moves up in weight to fight bigger and stronger opponents, but he failed to score the knockout on Saturday.

Even so, the bout didn’t turn into the same kind of dull affair as Pacquiao’s fight against Joshua Clottey at the same venue in March.

Unlike Clottey, Margarito came to fight. He paid the price as he suffered a nasty gash under the right eye and had a huge welt that almost closed his left eye and ended up in the hospital after the fight.

At one point in the 11th round Pacquiao appeared to look towards referee Laurence Cole as if he was trying to get the ref to stop the fight.

“I feel for my opponent,” Pacquiao said. “His eyes (were swollen and cut) and bloody face. I wanted the ref to look at that.

“In 12th round I wasn’t looking for the knockout.”

Asked what advice he had for his fighter heading into the final round, trainer Freddie Roach said, “I told him to knock him out.”

Pacquiao had a scare after the fight when he learned his mother, Dionesia, had suffered what officials called an “anxiety attack” during the fight and was taken to hospital. Pacquiao said at the post-fight news conference that she was doing better.

“She’s OK now. She’s OK,” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao, 31, entered the ring at 148 pounds while Margarito beefed up from 150 at the weigh-in to 165 pounds by fight time.

Pacquiao dominated Margarito from the outset to capture his eighth title in as many weight classes. He is also the first Asian to hold four or more major world titles.