SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Even when he is not 100 percent, Manny Pacquiao remains too classy for lesser mortals like Jorge Solis of Mexico.
Solis, previously undefeated, found out Saturday night how it felt being struck by a big-time banger like Pacquiao who scored another dramatic knockout victory in the eighth round at the Alamodome.
Nearly 15,000 fans showed up for the fight.
Back home, millions stayed glued on the television, including tens of thousands in General Santos City, site of Pacquiao’s next battle.
The popular boxing champion is contesting a seat in Congress against incumbent Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio.
Despite the long and arduous preparations, Pacquiao admitted that he came into the match clueless of what to expect from Solis.
“I was not really happy with my performance,” Pacquiao told his interviewers at ringside. “I was not 100 percent prepared for his style. I was just about 80 percent (tonight) because I only saw one fight (on video) of my opponent.”
Pacquiao said he was bothered by Solis’ excellent head movement.
“It was very hard to catch his head. It was hard to fight this kind of fighter,” said Pacquiao who boosted his winlossdraw ledger to 44-3-2 with 34 knockouts.
Still, Pacquiao proved too quick and powerful for the 27-year-old Solis who had never before been involved in such a high-profile bout.
A cut on his left eyebrow due to an accidental clash of heads in the sixth round roused Pacquiao from sleep.
After the doctor examined the cut, Pacquiao went on the offensive and sent Solis down in the eighth round with a paralyzing left uppercut hook to the head.
Clearly dazed, Solis gallantly got up to beat the count of American referee Vic Drakulich only to hit the deck anew following another Pacquiao left to the head.
This time, Solis could not beat the count.
Drakulich later told Manila reporters that he “would have probably stopped the fight even if Solis was able to beat the count after the second knockdown.”
At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Pacquiao, 28, the winner.
Larry O’Connell (England) scored it 6965, while Gale Van Hoy (Texas, USA) had it 68-65 and Oren Schellenberger (Texas, USA) saw it 69-64.
According to CompuBox, Pacquiao threw a total of 516 punches in almost 24 minutes of action, and 342 of them were power blows.
Of the 342 that Pacquiao uncorked, 109 landed for 32 percent. Solis only had 351 blows and a measly 149 were power punches, including 43 that found their target for 29 percent.
Solis, at least two inches taller at 5-8 ?, actually started well as the World Boxing Council (WBC) No. 2 featherweight contender utilized head movement to make Pacquiao miss badly at times and catch his ultra-aggressive rival a few times with clean shots to the head.
After the fight, Solis claimed that Pacquiao did not hit as hard as he had thought but offered no excuses. “I prepared hard. I did my best and I did everything that I could,” added Solis, who saw his record slide to 32-1.
“Manny got me very nervous,” said Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin Gacal, who flew in late Thursday from General Santos City. “The result of this fight would toll heavily on his candidacy.”
It could not be determined how much Pacquiao is going to get since his promotional outfit MP Promotions joined hands with Bob Arum’s Top Rank in staging the fights.
Arum earlier announced that Pacquiao would receive almost million counting everything all in, meaning his purse, ticket sales, pay-per-view sales and other revenue-making schemes.
Solis also would not disclose how much he would earn although Arum said in an interview in Los Angeles almost two weeks ago that he is shelling out 0,000 for Solis.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is heading back to Manila on Sunday night (early Monday afternoon in the Philippines) on a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles.
Team Pacquiao departs on different flights from here Sunday morning en route to Los Angeles.
