Pacquiao tops Barrera in unanimous decision

This time, Marco Antonio Barrera managed to stay on his feet. But even his best against Manny Pacquiao wasn't good enough to exact the measure of revenge he so desperately wanted.

Pacquiao was too good for Barrera on Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in the rematch of their 2003 fight. Pacquiao scored a 12-round unanimous decision over Barrera in the super featherweight contest after he had won by technical knockout in the 11th round in their first meeting in San Antonio.

"It was a good fight, but it was different from the first fight," Pacquiao said. "He's a good, smart boxer. I knew he would have to box me this time around. But I'm satisfied with the result."

Freddie Roach, who is Pacquiao's trainer, thought his fighter executed the game plan.

"Manny boxed well," he said. "He showed good footwork cutting him off and moving him to the right. When he did that, it was beautiful."

Pacquiao, who was a minus-300 favorite at fight time, improved to 45-3-2. Judges Jerry Roth and Glenn Trowbridge each had Pacquiao winning 118-109 while Tom Schreck scored it 115-112.

Barrera, who said prior to Saturday this would be his last big fight, dropped to 63-6.

"Honestly, this is my last fight," he said. "I definitely lost my head in couple of rounds. I got too caught up in the exchanges. I shouldn't have stayed in the exchanges. I should have kept boxing him.

"We planned in training camp to box, and I boxed well. I felt I boxed well. I thought I dominated with my left hand. I'm sad because I lost the fight."

Unlike their first fight, Pacquiao did not start slowly this time. He went right after Barrera and tried to set the tempo from the opening bell. Barrera wisely tried to keep his distance from Pacquiao's big left hand. For the most part, he was successful early on. But when Pacquiao caught up to Barrera, he made him pay as he nailed him with several clean shots to the side of the Mexican superstar's head.

Barrera's many supporters in the sellout crowd of 10,112 were urging the 33-year-old on, but he seemed sluggish and unable to keep up the pace Pacquiao was setting. Barrera was trying to pick his spots when it came time to unloading a barrage of punches. When he chose to box, Pacquiao was fine with that. When he opted to slug, Pacquiao was more than willing to accommodate him.

By the 10th round, Pacquiao appeared to have built a sizeable lead. Barrera had no choice but to open things up and hope to land the big punch. But as had been the case virtually the entire fight, Pacquiao never let Barrera get the necessary room to hurt him. He pressed forward, crowded him, cutting off the ring and using his jab to counter anything Barrera might try.

"It was very hard because he has such a strong defense, and it was hard to break through that defense," Barrera said.

But Pacquiao wasn't ready for the shot he took to the head after referee Tony Weeks told the two to break from a clinch during the 11th round. The illegal blow stunned and hurt Pacquiao, and Weeks had a point deducted from Barrera for the cheap shot.

It was just the sort of thing Roach had feared Barrera would do. But Pacquiao shook it off and finished the fight under control. The final Punchstats showed Pacquiao to be the more effective fighter as he landed more jabs (80 to 39), more power punches (176 to 81) and more overall punches (256 to 120).

Pacquiao and Barrera each received $2 million for the rematch. No world title was at stake, but the undercard featured two title fights.

Steven Luevano retained his WBO featherweight belt with a 12-round unanimous decision over Antonio Davis, and Librado Andrade survived a first-round knockdown and rallied to score a seventh-round technical knockout of Yusaf Mack and capture the vacant USBA super middleweight title.

Luevano (34-1) used his jab effectively from the outset and kept the aggressive Davis at bay. He opened a cut over Davis' left eye in the fifth round and continued to outbox Davis. Judges Levi Martinez and Burt Clements had Luevano winning 119-108 while C.J. Ross had Luevano ahead 118-109. Davis fell to 24-4 with the loss.

In the USBA title bout, Mack couldn't sustain his quick start. By the seventh round, he appeared to be tired and ready to be taken. Andrade knocked him down three times inside of a minute to improve to 26-1. Mack lost for the second time in his career, falling to 23-2-2.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2913.