PACQUIAO TO BIGGER FIGHTS, BARRERA TO HALL OF FAME
By Rod Mijares
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 11 Oct 2007
It was a thrilling and exciting bout from the first round to the end of the 12th round. Both boxers, the champion Manny Pacquiao and the challenger Marco Antonio Barrera fighting for the WBC International Super Featherweight Title came out to fight and the paying public both inside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Event Center and those paying for HBO pay-per-view got their money?s worth. The fight is Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Promotions joined syndicated ?Will To Win? bout held on October 6, 2007 and watched by 10,112 boxing fans at Mandalay Bay and by millions worldwide at the comfort of their homes.
Manny Pacquiao was the aggressor most of the rounds weaving his body sideways down left down right with the finest footwork you could imagine and going to the offensive soonest he find a hole in Barrera?s defense. Barrera contented on staying standing stiff just moving his body around like a pendulum following Manny wherever he moved and just counter punching most of the time. It?s only on the 7th round that Barrera showed some sign of body weaving for the first time kind of getting the cobweb out of his system.
The first round was characterized by Pacquiao unleashing a barrage of punches and Barrera held Manny twice. Second round saw Manny on the offensive but Barrera counter punching while Manny was on his head down. The 5th round was the most exciting with both warriors counter punching with gusto and the crowds on their feet cheering for any fighter to get a knockdown. On the sixth Manny gave away a big solid left upper cut to the air as Barrera was able to evade it. It was just sizing up for both of them taking a breather before Manny cornered Barrera with a combination of punches before the 6th round ended. After the sixth round, Pacquiao was ahead on the two judges? card 5-1 except on the other one who called it even.
The two have good exchanges of punches inside the last ten seconds of the 7th round. It was almost the same game up to the 11th round where I called it the round that Barrera feared most. It was in this round that Barrera got knockdown on their first fight almost four years ago on November 11, 2003 at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas. My gut was true to form as Pacquiao tried to repeat history and was on the offensive most of the time and Barrera counter punching to the delight of the crowd who were on their feet again after the nth time chanting and chanting on top of their voices urging for a knockdown. However, it could be an accident or a dirty tactic but Pacquiao was hit on the head after the referee called a break. It was the lull that Barrera could have wanted and the crowd in silence while Manny shook out the effect of the punch in the corner. It stopped Manny?s momentum, avoid a knockdown and Barrera only got a slap of a one point deduction. Not bad for a legendary boxer with a glorious career who wanted to go out and retire standing tall and still be remembered fighting one of the best loved pound for pound boxer of all time in Manny Pacquiao in a very exciting and later on confirmed as the last fight of his boxing illustrious career.
As expected after all the dust was cleared, Manny Pacquiao, the proud son of General Santos City, Philippines won by unanimous decision and defended his title over Marco Antonio Barrera, the Baby Faced Assassin from Juadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Judges Jerry Roth and Glenn Trowbridge both scored it 118-109 for Pacquiao and Tom Schreck scored it 115-112 also for Pacquiao.
Pacquiao landed 256 punches out of 694 or with an average of 58 thrown per round while Barrera landed 120 punches out of 578 with an average of 48 thrown per round. Pacquiao connected 80 jabs out of 369 thrown and 176 power punches out of 325 thrown while Barrera connected only 39 jabs out of 338 thrown and 81 power punches out of 240 thrown.
Marco Antonio Barrera will retire after this fight leaving behind a magnanimous record of 63 wins (42 KO) with only 6 losses for a total of 69 fights and will surely be elected to the boxing Hall of Fame. Manny Pacquiao will still continue his dominance of Mexican boxers in particular with a record of 45 wins (35 KO) with only 3 losses. Manny?s last loss was with his first fight with Erik Morales also of Mexico at MGM Hotel & Casino on March 19, 2005 which he later avenged twice on January 21, 2006 and November 18, 2006 at Thomas & Mack Center also in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rod Mijares.
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