Manny Pacquiao Dominates Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium

Folks, what more can you say?

Tonight at Cowboys Stadium, Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO) dominated a much bigger, very game, very determined Antonio Margarito (38-7, 26 KO), winning a wide 12-round decision. Official scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110. Bad Left Hook and SB Nation scored it 119-109 for Manny.

Pacquiao started strong, showcasing his speed and movement against the lumbering, clearly bigger Margarito. Margarito took the second round on our scorecard in what was an awesome offensive display from both fighters. Tonight, what may have been most learned is simple: Manny Pacquiao can take a punch from a bigger man. And take it pretty well.

Margarito gave his best tonight against Pacquiao, but it simply wasn't close to enough. Pacquiao was too fast, too active, too good for the Mexican foe, and Margarito couldn't keep up with him, no matter how hard he tried.

Now, we wonder what's next for Pacquiao, who is running out of opponents. An early guess is that Manny Pacquiao will rematch Miguel Cotto, who was in attendance tonight. But if the dream fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. presents itself -- and the time might be right -- then there's no passing on that. Manny has proven his dominance. Now, it's hard to make a case for Floyd as the best in the world anymore, pound-for-pound. Manny just keeps taking on top foes and, like Floyd, dominating, while also wrecking up his opponents' faces.

On the Undercard

• Brandon Rios TKO-5 Omri Lowther. Rios was out of shape and fighting on short notice, but he was able to mostly overpower the overmatched Lowther. Rios had a huge weight advantage, coming in just shy of the middleweight limit (157) after weight in a bit under 140. He had a huge physical advantage of Lowther, and marches on. Rios may well face Humberto Soto or Urbano Antillon in his next fight, as those two will face off next month.
• Mike Jones MD-12 Jesus Soto Karass. Jones kept his unbeaten record, but struggled a lot with the tough Soto Karass. Bad Left Hook and SB Nation scored it 96-94 for Soto Karass, but it wasn't a disgrace or robbery, though the 97-93 card for Jones was way too wide by my estimation. Jones may face unbeaten Andre Berto or Kell Brook next, but we have to wait to see how his handlers felt about this fight. Jones came alive late after struggling in the middle rounds, which came from punching himself out with an incredible flurry in the second round that didn't get Soto Karass down. JSK definitely wrangled himself some more good fights as a top-end gatekeeper at least.
• Guillermo Rigondeaux SD-12 Ricardo Cordoba. Both fighters were knocked down, though Cordoba definitely went down harder. Bad Left Hook and SB Nation scored it 116-112 for Rigondeaux (with a 10-10 first round), but it was just not an impressive performance from Rigondeaux, who does not have a lot of money upside. The good news for him is his talent will carry him.

Thank you to everyone who joined us tonight at Bad Left Hook and SB Nation.