Former three-division champ Manny Pacquiao improved to 42-3-2 (32) with a harder-than expected 12-round decision victory over former WBC 122-pound titlist Oscar Larios, winning by scores of 117-110, 118-108 and 120-106 in front of a packed Araneta Coliseum in Manilla.
The victory, which sets up a November rubber match between Pacquiao and his rival Erik Morales, was one-sided on points, but was no walk in the park for the Filipino icon, who knocked Larios down in the seventh and 12th rounds.
Larios, who dropped to 56-5-1 (36), was not in The Philippines to collect a pay check; the Guadalajara native spent six weeks in secluded training in Japan preparing for Pacquiao and he showed the world that he came to win in the thrilling third round.
After standing up to Pacquiao’s best left hands and firing back with well-timed right hands to the body and head in the first two rounds, Larios buzzed the “Pac-Man” with a right hand at the start of the third round, backing the Filipino hero to the ropes where he unleashed a brutal series of right hands and one left hook that clearly hurt the pride of The Philippines.
However, showing the heart he’s displayed time and time again in big fights, Pacquiao sucked it up and came roaring back in the final minute of the round. Fighting in accurate, explosive bursts, landing with both hands to the body and head, Pacquiao took over the fight in the middle rounds and controlled most of the action until the final bell, but Larios’s legwork, feinting and champion’s heart kept him in the fight.
Despite suffering a nasty cut and severe swelling around his left eye from the fourth round on, Larios fired back every time Pacquiao began to get the better of him, however the Filipino superstar’s faster, sharper and heavier hands proved to be the difference down the stretch.
Afterwards, both fighters were gracious and complimentary to the other. Said Larios:
“I was well prepared (for this fight); I was 100 percent but at the end of the day I lost to a great champion.”
