Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) defeated Branden Rios (31-2-1,23 KOs) by unanimous decision at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China to win the vacant WBO International welterweight title.
The fight was a one-sided beatdown from Pacquiao, who was too fast, strong, experienced and wily for the brave and granite-chinned Rios, who never stopped coming forward despite the barrage of shots that he was eating.
After 12 rounds of sustained punishment, the judges scored the fight 119-109, 120-108 and 118-110 in favor of Pacquiao, who ended a two fight losing streak with this win. He may not be the same fighter as three or four years ago, but with this win he signaled to all and sundry and there is still life left in his career at the top level.
He took to Twitter post-fight to express his thoughts:
Check out some highlights:
For one nation, this was more than just a boxing match:
