It was not to be a competitive fight. The bettors knew it. Most boxing fans knew it. Manny Pacquiao won every single round of his fight with Margarito, and only Pacquiao’s mercy prevented him from knocking out Margarito. It was at 150, a weight far from Pacquiao’s ideal, and yet he was so much better than Margarito that only the referee’s crazy compassion for Margarito’s chances kept this fight from being stopped.
I’ll have more to say tomorrow, but that’s the gist. Margarito had no chance and HBO 24/7 is to be commended for making this seem competitive. It wasn’t. You’d have to be generous for giving Margarito a round. He wasn’t his “old self” and nowhere close to it. He got pasted every round from 1 to 12. That’s it.
Pacquiao got hit some, but so what? It never seemed to bother him, because Margarito’s career is — most likely — a fraud. If it wasn’t a fraud, I don’t know why you’d think that. There’s no direct evidence of fraudulence, but his last three performances weren’t encouraging. Floyd Mayweather is waiting, like a vulture, for Pacquiao to show some vulnerability. He didn’t. That’s all for now. More tomorrow.
