Marco Antonio Barrera was unable to penetrate Manny Pacquiao?s defenses for any significant portion in his Saturday night unanimous decision loss to the pound for pound contender in front of a crowd of 10,112 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
The fight was the last of Barrera?s career.
Barrera (63-6-1) was implored by his corner to put pressure on Pacquiao (45-3-2) late into the fight.
He was behind on the cards, but in the last three rounds Barrera was unable to mount any significant attack. He lost a majority of the rounds and got a point deducted for a hit on the break.
Pacquiao kept the pressure on from the very beginning, walking Barrera around the ring from the second round on, only yielding the fifth round. At the beginning of the second round, Pacquiao was landing significant punches but Barrera was able to keep distance enough and found the opening to allow follow up punches against his opponent.
?I thought he was going to box me and he did. He kept his distance,? Pacquiao said in a post-fight interview.
In the third round, the crowd was pulled to their feet as both fighters stood toe-to-toe, swinging for the fences. Despite Barrera?s ability to answer Pacquiao?s attacks, it was clear that Pacquiao is controlling two solid minutes of the round.
The fifth round saw a change of fortune for Barrera as he was able to get Pacquiao up against the ropes, forcing him to lean, appearing for a second as though the featherweight champion might take a trip to the mat. Pacquiao was able to counter quickly but not nearly with the ferocity of Barrera.
Pacquiao did find the answer in the next round as he pressured Barrera against the ropes and fought through multiple shots by Barrera. Pacquiao landed the same attack again in the eighth round, causing Barrera to stumble and sway on several of his punches.
Pacquiao continued his dominance all the way until the final bell, as he remained the WBC International Super Featherweight champion.
Pacquiao won all judges ?cards by a score of 118-109, 118-109 and 115-112.
There were many points of disparity in the judges? scorecards. Nine rounds were given to Barrera between the three judges scorecards. The judges only agreed on three of those rounds and never unanimously.
?I am satisfied with the win. I tried to give people a good show and I hope people liked this fight,? Pacquiao said.
After this win, there is much speculation that Pacquiao will move up from the 130 pound weight class to 135, a point Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach addressed in a post-fight press conference.
?[Pacquiao] came in the ring tonight at 144 [pounds]. [And] 130 is getting a little harder to make for him and 135, why not?? Roach said.
Pacquiao?s response to the question was straight to the point, and asked promoters of 135 pounds to ?line them up.?
Roach also fielded questions on Pacquiao?s ferocity, stating that Pacquiao?s attack was closely constructed to develop him into a better fighter.
?I think [Pacquiao] was fighting a smarter fight,? Roach said. ?He was setting things up and using his feints. We worked on being a better boxer, because the thing is, speed and power is not enough to be in this game for a long time.?
Barrera, who has been in the boxing game for a long time, took every opportunity to convince a rather cynical crowd that this was his grand finale.
?Honestly, this is my last fight,? Barrera said in the ring after the contest and before fielding any further questions. ?I lost my head in a couple of those rounds. I got too caught up and shouldn?t have stayed in those exchanges. I should have boxed more.?
In the last preliminary bout of the night Steven Luevano defeated Antonio Davis to defend the WBO Featherweight title. Luevano yielded only one round in an impressive ,unanimous decision victory.
Luevano outboxed his opponent around the ring, smothering him and getting him against the ropes multiple times throughout the 12 rounds. Luevano even managed to pick up an 11th round knockdown against Davis, punctuating his victory. Luevano cleaned up the scorecards 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109.
In other preliminary action, Yusaf Mack recorded a knockout on Librado Andrade and Steve Forbes won a split decision over Francisco Bojado.
