Manny Pacquiao's age was supposed to slow him down in his big fight against Brandon Rios, but that was simply not the case, as Pac-Man put in a completely dominant performance.
After 12 rounds of sheer dominance, Pacquiao walked away with an easy unanimous decision. According to Kevin Iole from Yahoo! Sports, one judge even had Pac-Man coming away with 10 points in all 12 rounds.
Things started off on the right foot for Pacquiao in the first round, landing some very solid shots. He even got Rios to slip at one point, and Pac-Man was simply the busier fighter in the round.
That seemed to be a pattern throughout the fight. Rios started to land a few nicer shots in the second round, but it was Pacquiao who landed more shots and with more power behind them. Both fighters started that round with a flurry of shots, but Pacquiao finished very strong at the end with a number of big shots.
The third and fourth rounds featured more great punches from Pacquiao. At one point in the third, Rios got Manny into the corner, but Pac-Man dodged a shot and came back with a terrific counter to get off the ropes. He kept the pace up in the fourth, and at that point, the only question was if his age would cause him to slow down.
He didn't, and he just kept the pace up.
Some of the most punishing shots from Pacquiao came in the fifth and sixth rounds. In the fifth, Pac-Man landed the shot of the night, landing an incredibly straight left hand that clearly shook Rios, and then he followed it with more punches.
Later in the sixth, Pacquiao landed yet another solid straight. He kept up the pace and even created a cut on the left eye of Rios.
Throughout the second half of the fight, Pacquiao simply coasted to a massive victory. What was amazing was that he was never really forced to slow down due to fatigue, as his speed was still there and he never looked sluggish. He was able to slow down due to the fact that he was so far ahead, and he didn't look gassed at any point in the fight.
At 34 years old, Pacquiao still looks like a great fighter. Some will say that he's lost a step, but as Steve Kim from MaxBoxing.com said, he's really not been bad in his past two losses.
Before the fight, Manny said that he had no plans to retire, providing this quote courtesy of HBO Boxing.
The question is no longer if Pacquiao can still fight. Instead, the question is which fighter he will be taking on next. Many are hoping for the big fight against Floyd Mayweather to finally take place, but a rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez is certainly a possibility as well, along with a bout against another fighter.
Regardless of who he fights next, Pacquiao has officially proved that he's still one of the best fighters out there.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment