Rios says he wasn’t hurt, lauds Pacquiao’s speed

MANILA, Philippines – Even with his face swollen from all the beating, Brandon Rios insisted that Manny Pacquiao didn’t hurt him throughout their 12-round welterweight bout Sunday at the CotaiArena at The Venetian Hotel and Casino in Macau.

“He never hurt me,” Rios, who sustained a cut just below his left eye, said during the post-fight presser after Pacquiao cruised to a trouble-free unanimous decision win.

But what the 27-year-old Rios, who folded under the bright lights of his first pay-per-view fight, couldn’t ignore was Pacquiao’s undiminished quickness and hand speed.

“What got me was just the speed and the awkwardness,” Rios admitted. “He’s very fast. He has a lot of different angles. He’s difficult to box against.”

“I put my heart and soul into this fight. The best Manny Pacquiao showed up tonight.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

‘Careful’ Pacquiao learns lesson from Marquez loss

The sellout crowd at Cotai Arena inside the grandiose Venetian Macau Hotel and Casino rose to its feet in anticipation of a knockout that never came.

And there’s a reason behind it as Manny Pacquiao would admit.

“I’m very careful. I learned from my last fight,” a victorious Pacquiao said in an interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant before breaking a smile.

Pacquiao, whose hand was finally raised after scoring a lopsided decision over hard-as-nails Brandon Rios, didn’t show any effects from his devastating knockout loss to rival Juan Manuel Marquez 11 months ago as he reverted back to old lethal form.

“Recovering from the knockout and putting on a good show like the young Manny Pacquiao,” he said of his stirring comeback performance.

There wasn’t a knockout, stoppage nor even a knockdown but Pacquiao’s performance nonetheless showed flashes of his old self as he circled around a flat-footed Rios after throwing combination after combination like that of his sterling showing in his 12th round stoppage of Miguel Cotto four years ago.

The only difference was the brash Rios stayed on his feet and repeatedly gestured he wasn’t hurt despite his head getting cocked back over and over from Pacquiao’s flurry.

“I didn’t see Rios as an easy opponent. He is tough,” Pacquiao, who turns 35 next month, commended. “He is one of the toughest opponents of my career, he took a lot of punches.”

The bell rang signaling the end of the 12-round bout with Pacquiao’s face draped in sweat while Rios’ showed a badly beaten fighter, his left eye deeply cut, his right eye swelling and nose bloodied.

The crowd sensed a knockout was looming in the dwindling seconds. It never happened and judging by how Rios looked as the bell sounded, Pacquiao perhaps didn’t need one.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Yolanda survivors rejoice after Pacquiao triumph

TACLOBAN, Philippines — Thousands of Filipino survivors of Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) erupted into wild cheers Sunday to celebrate their boxing icon Manny Pacquiao’s victory that gave them a brief respite from the enormous destruction and rebuilding that lies ahead.

“It felt like I got my house back,” said street sweeper Ardel Nebasa, who lost him home in tsunami-like storm surges that ravaged Tacloban city on Nov. 8.

Officials hope that watching Pacquiao’s triumph against American Brandon Rios in Macau would help traumatized survivors take their minds off the horrific devastation wrought by the typhoon and inspire them to pick up the pieces from the storm that killed more than 5,200 people.

“I was so happy and I wanted to cry but there were too many people,” said Nebasa, who watched the match with his son and thousands of others on a TV screen set up in a public plaza in Tacloban city.

He added, “It would have felt like another storm has hit if he lost.”

Another survivor waved a cardboard placard that read: “We’re for Pacquiao, God bless, Tacloban will rise again.” Many jumped repeatedly in joy.

Thousands of residents also cheered at Tacloban’s Astrodome stadium and watched the fight on a giant screen, their view partly obscured by the light filtering through holes in the basketball gym’s ceiling. One man carried a Philippine flag.

Pacquiao, who defeated Rios by unanimous decision to take the WBO international welterweight title, has dedicated his comeback fight to storm victims and promised to visit Tacloban and outlying regions that the storm had turned into a corpse-strewn wasteland.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the 12-round match, many spectators in Tacloban threw their baseball caps, shirts and pieces of cardboard into the air, even before the result was officially announced.

Tacloban city folk, Nebasa said, would gladly await the visit of Pacquiao, who rose from poverty to become one of the world’s highest-paid athletes.

“We’ll be thankful if he can help us,” Nebasa said. “He came from the ranks of the poor and we identify with him and are happy for his triumphs.”

In Macau, the 13,000-seat arena at the Venetian casino was packed. Many in the audience were Filipinos who either lived and worked in Macau or nearby Hong Kong, or made the one-hour flight from the Philippines.

Some waved Philippine flags, and frequently chanted, “Manny, Manny.”

Businessman Bong Ferrer flew to Macau with a group of 11 others.

“Of course this is a high morale day to the Filipino people because of what’s happening to us back in the Philippines. It’s redeeming to us. It makes us feel in high spirits,” he said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Pacquiao is back, beats Rios in 12 rounds

MANILA, Philippines– With a fight that went the distance, eight-time world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao made his comeback known with a convincing victory over Brandon “Bambam” Rios at their bout held at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian.

Dubbed as The Clash in Cotai, the 12-rounder saw Pacquiao dominate the bigger Rios landing uppercuts and straights, with the southpaw cruising to a unanimous decision victory, 120-108, 119-109, 118-110, adding the WBO International Welterweight Championship belt to his impressive trophy case.

Pacquiao, coming off two straight defeats, took a careful approach against the hard-hitting Rios who looked like a smaller Antonio Margarito after the southpaw landed quality power punches.

“I wanted to give a good show,” said Pacquiao who put on a methodical showcase throughout the 12 rounds.

From the opening bell, Pacquiao threw his left straights as if it were jabs, landing massive blows to the head of Rios who sustained a cut above his left eye in the fourth round.

A tired Rios only to land light jabs, relying on the clinch to hit power punches on the smaller Pacquiao with the former nursing a swollen right eye after his left brow blew open.

Continuous combinations opened up the match for Pacquiao as he took the driver seat as early as the fifth round then maintained his careful pace until the final bell.

Though Rios managed to bring the fight to the ropes, but Pacquiao’s evasiveness dwindled the Mexican’s chances of landing points in score card as Pacquiao’s constant counters proved too much.

In an act of pure sportsmanship from the Filipino, Pacquiao gave his felled opponent a hug after the bell signified the bout’s end.

source: sports.inquirer.net