MACAU ? They wanted blood. They wanted him to punish his rival. They chanted his name from opening bell to the end. They urged him on. They wanted a knockout.
It never came.
Manny Pacquiao danced and jabbed and punched his way to a convincing unanimous victory over American-Mexican Brandon Rios here Sunday in a bout whose result was never in doubt. But it was not a vintage performance by Pacquiao and he was hardly the man many knew ? a vicious attacker and counterpuncher who knocked out opponents with regularity, and on many occasions, send them into retirement.
Though Pacquiao dominated from the start, there was no instance in whole fight that Rios was in danger of going down.
Pacquiao was hitting Rios good, but the punches were not kind that would stagger or buckle knees.
?He never hurt me,? Rios proudly said after the bout, although he was bloodied and wore dark sunglasses when he met the press, perhaps to conceal the lumps under his eyes.
Rios tried to bring the fight to Pacquiao, but the Filipino star was too fast to be pinned down.
Asked what Pacquiao?s best punch was during the fight, Rios said, smiling: ?His best punch was his quickness.?
Indeed, Pacquiao was so fast, he was like a ghost ? now you see him, now you don?t. Many times, Rios had his fists cocked to deliver a punch only to see himself aiming at no one. Pacquiao had dissapeared.
To many observers, Pacquiao was too cautious, too careful and was not really looking for the one big knockout punch.
Well, some say, that was not totally unexpected.
?He was coming from a one year, lay off and from a terrible knockout,? said one foreign journalist. ?So that kind of performance was expected.?
The journalist said Pacquiao was rusty and it showed in his fight where, if it were held two years ago, Rios would have been out before round six.
?But overall, he said, it was a stellar Pacquiao performance considering what he went through.
Robert Garcia, Rios?s trainer, had kind words for Pacquiao whom he earlier described as a boxer in decline, someone who is vulnerable.
?He fought well,? Garcia said. ?He had a game plan and stuck to it.?
Garcia said he instructed Rios to do something in the last four rounds after noting that they were behind in points.
But nothing happened as both boxers exchanged cautious punches.
Even in the final round when the crowd rose to urge Pacquiao to go for the kill, the Filipino simly went through the motions to avoid any incident.
?Yes, that was the instruction,? Pacquiao said. ?To tale it easy in the final round to avoid any mishap.?
He recalled that his carelessness had cost him the fight against Marquez last year.
Pacquiao met the press nearly over an hour after the fight. He had to undergo two drug tests and it took a while.
?It?s because he was asked to urinate twice,? his promoter Bob Arum said.
?After a fight like this,? he said, ?fighters are dehydrated so it was difficult.?
Pacquiao practically said he was back.
?Some people have counted me out, but my faith in God said we will survive the test.
?We know I can come back and the journey will begin again.?
Asked if he wanted Floyd Mayweather Jr as a possible opponent, Pacquiao said he was ready to meet anyone, including Mayweather.
?I?m a fighter and whoever is there willing to fight I will fight,? he said.
Although the knockout was missing, it was the best performance by Pacquiao in the last few bouts.
He was fast and he was the aggressor when it was needed.
But the memory of the knockout appeared to influenced his game plan.
?Yeah,? said his trainer Roach, ?we wanted him to be careful in the last round.?
