Texas, Sunday, November 14, 2010 — Filipino Manny Pacquiao won his eighth boxing title when he battered Mexican Antonio Margarito over 12 rounds.

By the fourth round, Pacquiao had opened up Margarito’s face with a cut under his right eye. With his right eye closing up with the swelling, Margarito then saw his left eye get the same bruising treatment.

With even the television commentators calling for the fight to end by the start of the 11th round, a sporting Pacquiao started giving searching looks at the referee between punches to see if he would call an end to the lopsided fight.

“I told the referee look at his eyes, look at his cuts,” Pacquiao said. “I did not want to damage him permanently. That’s not what boxing is about.”

Pacquiao landed 474 punches to 229 for Margarito and though Pacquiao had moved up in weight for this fight, Margarito still had a 20-pound advantage over him.

Pacquiao, a congressman in his native Philippines, was only hit badly once when he took a full blow to the stomach but he always had an answer to the Mexican with accurate, lightning quick four- and five-punch combinations.

Despite talk about a less than ideal training camp, Pacquiao still had too much speed and power for Margarito on his way to winning the WBC super welterweight championship title. Pacquiao pocketed US$15 million for the fight.

Pacquiao was a unanimous winner, scoring 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 on the scorecards of the three judges. On one scorecard, he won all the rounds.

The only fight left for Pacquiao that boxing fans want to see is against American Floyd Mayweather Jr.