MANILA, 3 July 2006 — Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao unleashed the bite to back his bark.
And Oscar Larios, the Mexican many thought was chopped liver, fought as good as he advertised himself.
In the end of 12 grueling rounds — a place in the Mano-A-Mano card’s main event which Pacquiao had promised would not be reached - an entire nation applauded its most-loved son and the vanquished who showed the resilience Filipinos love.
Pacquiao floored Larios twice — but not strong enough to keep him there — on the way to a unanimous decision victory to retain the less-prestigious international super featherweight belt of the WBC at the Araneta Coliseum yesterday.
“This is for all the Filipinos who always watch me fight and support me,” Pacquiao said after the bout, watched by a huge crowd but definitely far fewer than the mammoth, overflow gallery that saw Thrilla in Manila in the same venue in 1975. The General Santos native connected on a crisp right to Larios’ jaw in the seventh for the first knockdown, before a combination floored the Mexican again with just over 40 seconds left in the fight. But Larios got back to his feet both times, belying reports of his glassy jaw to not only make good on his promise to make the fight go the distance but also earn the respect of the picky Filipino fans who came to see a massacre.
Instead, the crowd, estimated to be just close to 13,000, saw someone who took the best that Pacquiao could offer and gave out licks of his own early on.
“I did not come here just to put up a good fight,” Larios said through an interpreter during the post-fight press conference. “I came here to win and I almost did.”
Larios, the former two-time super bantamweight champion of the world, had Pacquiao in trouble early, especially in the third round when he pinned the Filipino superstar against the ropes while connecting on a barrage of combinations.
“He hit me hard, but I wasn’t that hurt,” Pacquiao said. “In fact, I was able to get out of the ropes quickly after that. Hearing the crowd chanting my name helped. I knew I couldn’t let my countrymen down.”
It was at that time when the hushed gallery believed that Larios could pull off a surprise.
But it was also that fleeting moment of glory which cost the Mexican the match in the end.
“I felt that I could knock him out (after the third round) and I stopped listening to my corner,” Larios said. He got sucked into an old-fashioned slugfest in the middle of the ring after that, a style which Pacquiao thrives in.
“He started fighting the wrong fight after the third round,” said Rafael Mendoza, Larios’ agent and adviser.
“He lost his head thinking he could knock Manny Pacquiao out.
“And I think that made the difference.”
Pacquiao finished ahead in all three judges’ scorecards, 117-110, 118-108 and 120-106, but it was a victory wanting in some aspects, still, after his promise to deliver Larios to the Filipino crowd on a stretcher was not fulfilled.
“I knew I was in control of the match, leading on points, and I did not want to risk being too aggressive because he might be able to catch me with a lucky punch,” Pacquiao, now 42-3-2, explained.
“If I pushed a little harder, I think you all know what the result would have been,” the 27-year-old Filipino added.
Larios, now 56-5-1, earned the admiration of Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer for his last 11 fights.
“Larios took a lot of shots from Manny and they were good solid shots,” said Roach.
