Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao and Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios essentially traded blows throughout the first four rounds of their bout on November 23, but it was the fifth round that swung the match in Pacquiao's favor.
The fifth round was all Pac-Man. He landed 22 of 40 punches, and Rios had no defense for the quick feet and reactions of Pacquiao. The round opened with a strong left from Pacquiao that connected with the head of Rios, and things didn't really get better for Bam Bam from there.
Pacquiao followed that strike to the head with a fantastic left-right combination a bit later in the round that knocked Rios off-balance. Analysts and fans watching the fight had no choice but to question how much longer Rios could last against a clearly superior Pacquiao at about the halfway point of the round.
Rios was overworked by Pacquiao in the round, though he did sneak in a few strong blows of his own. That being said, Pac-Man clearly wore him down and that spilled over into the following rounds of the fight.
While the fifth round wasn't the deciding round, it may as well have been for Pacquiao. After the clinic he put on in Round 5, there was no way Rios was going to be able to come back and win.
Pacquiao stole the momentum in the round. Rios and Pacquiao had been relatively even through the first four rounds of the fight, and the first fighter to dominate a round was going to be the one with the momentum moving forward.
The fifth round undoubtedly belonged to Pacquiao, and so did the momentum.
The beat-down that Pacquiao put on Rios in the round was also enough to ruin Rios' chances of winning. Pacquiao piled on the body shots, and they certainly did their part to tire Rios down. Rios is a very powerful fighter that doesn't boast the speed of Pacquiao. This made him an easy target for Pacquiao to bounce around and land hit after hit.
It goes without saying that the fight was all Pacquiao after Round 5. Rios was both tired and deflated in terms of momentum, and those both worked in Pacquiao's favor.
To Rios' credit, though, he didn't go down without a fight. He mostly stayed on his feet for the entire fight, and he also took every hit that Pacquiao sent his way.
Pacquiao won in a unanimous decision, and the fight may not have been his had he not dominated the fifth round. To be fair, the word "dominated" may not even be the correct word to use.
Simply put, Pacquiao owned Round 5.
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