WBC super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao knocked out undefeated Jorge Solis twice in the eighth round to claim victory in their bout in San Antonio, Texas.
The Philippines boxer, considered one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters, was made to work hard for his victory having been cut above the left eye by a Solis head butt in the sixth.
This incident only made Pacquiao (44-3-2, 34 knockouts) more aggressive and proceeded to send the awkward Mexican (32-1-2, 1 ND, 23 KOs) to the canvas 40 seconds into the eighth round of a scheduled 12-round fight at the Alamodome.
Solis barely regained his feet and was quickly floored again by “Pacman” following a devastating series of punches which left him unable to beat the count 1:16 into the round.
After the fight Pacquiao claimed the cut he sustained was the key to his triumph.
“That gave me determination,” he told reporters.
“I decided to quit fooling around and go finish the fight.”
Saturday’s undercard included two world-title fights.
Mexico’s Cristian Mijares, 25, defended his recently won WBC super flyweight championship with a dominating showing against two-time former world champion Jorge Arce of Mexico. The 12-round bout was won to Mijares on scores of 119-109, 118-110, 117-111.
And in a battle for the vacant WBC light-flyweight championship, Mexico City’s Edgar Sosa surprised the division’s former champion, Brian Viloria of Honolulu, 115-113, 115-113, 114-114.
