How do you beat a whirling dervish named Manny Pacquiao? Antonio Margarito had no answer last night as he suffered a shellacking at the buzz-saw fists of the current pound-for-pound king. In a contest for the vacant WBC junior-middleweight title, Margarito outsized Pacquiao physically ? but in terms of applied ability, the ?Tijuana Tornado? was dwarfed by the ?Pacman.?
Pacquiao did everything to Margarito but stop him. And that may have only been because Manny eased off on his well-drubbed opponent through the twelfth round after it became clear that Margarito would rather soak up more punishment than quit. No one would have faulted referee Laurence Cole had he stopped the slaughter after the eleventh round. He didn?t, and Pacquiao basically let Margarito slide over the final three minutes of the unequal contest.
The 17-pound advantage Margarito carried into the ring meant nothing. The rumors that Pacquiao had a sub-par training camp meant nothing. Margarito?s proverbial ?puncher?s chance? meant nothing.
Pacquiao?s amazing amalgam of speed and power meant everything, as it has since his last difficult fight, the rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez that many still think Marquez deserved to win. Since then, Pacquiao has been the chainsaw, and his opponents have been the trees. Margarito was the biggest tree yet, but his fate was the same.
Margarito should think seriously about hanging up his gloves. He took severe punishment in his victory over Miguel Cotto. He suffered even more damage at the hands of Shane Mosley after pads with a hardening substance were removed from the Mexican?s hand-wraps before the fight. Now Pacquiao has inflicted even more injury.
Sure, Margarito?s durable. But how much more abuse can his skull absorb before his health is permanently compromised?
The hand-wrap scandal will always hang over Margarito?s head. But his defiant display of machismo in a hopeless cause earned him back a measure of the respect he lost.
Pacquiao, in contrast, has no reason to leave boxing. He?s still at his peak, and the bigger his opponents have been, the harder they?ve fallen. The one fighter his weight who appears to stand a chance against him is Floyd Mayweather Jr., and at this point it would be easier to get Barack Obama to appear on Sarah Palin?s new reality-TV show than to get Mayweather and Pacquiao to trade punches in the same ring.
So, who?s left for Manny to fight? The Paul-Williams-Sergio Martinez victor? The winner of the Super Six tournament? Vladimir Klitschko?
If he leaves the ring now, Pacquiao will be a legend in his own lifetime, winning titles ? if not linear championships ? in a record eight weight divisions. And he can also claim that his greatest potential rival refused to fight him. Questions over Pacquiao?s response to Mayweather?s demands for Olympic-style blood testing would fade with the passage of time.
Pacquiao won?t quit, though. Like Joe Frazier, he smiles as he punches ? not out of derision, but because he thoroughly enjoys his work. As long as Manny enjoys his work, the dervish will keep on whirling.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers.
