Pacquiao, Pavlik & Holyfield Victorious!

[ArmyofDarkness]

Manny Pacquiao caught Shane Mosley early, then chased him the rest of the night. Not much more he could do against an aging fighter who seemed only to want to survive.

Pacquiao won a lopsided 12-round decision Saturday night, retaining his version of the welterweight title in a fight that was roundly booed over the late rounds because Mosley refused to trade punches.

Pacquiao won every round on two ringside scorecards in extending the remarkable run that has made him the most exciting fighter in the sport.

He also won the ungrudging respect of a veteran fighter who has been in with some of the best in the world.

"I fought the best fighter in the world," Mosley said. "He has exceptional power, power that I've never been hit like this before."

Pacquiao knocked down Mosley with a left hook in the third round, a punch that sapped Mosley's willingness to engage. Pacquiao ran after Mosley the rest of the fight, but the former champion who has never been stopped in 18 years in the ring managed to stay away enough to finish the 12th round upright.

Pacquiao won 120-108 on one scorecard, 120-107 on a second and 119-108 on the third. The Associated Press had him winning 118-110.

For Mosley, the fight was strikingly similar to his bout a year ago against Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- except this time Mosley didn't even land a big punch like he did early on against Mayweather. Mosley's biggest moment on this night came when referee Kenny Bayless mistakenly ruled that Mosley knocked Pacquiao down in the 10th round when he didn't even hit him with a punch.

The knockdown that wasn't spurred Pacquiao on as he went after Mosley the rest of the round and again in the 11th. By then the crowd was cheering "Knock him out! Knock him out!" but Pacquiao -- bothered by a cramp in his left leg since the fourth round -- didn't have enough to finish him off.

"It wasn't my best performance," Pacquiao said. "I did my best. I did not expect this result."

The closest Mosley got to Pacquiao all night came at the beginning of the 12th round when he hugged Pacquiao before the two went about finishing their business. That took some of the fire out of Pacquiao, who didn't really go after the knockout in the final round.

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Sporting plenty of new tattoo ink and armed with his newfound sobriety, former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik returned to the ring for the first time in 13 months and won a majority decision over Alfonso Lopez on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The bout was one of the featured contests on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard, a high-profile spot for Pavlik to make his return.

Although the 29-year-old Pavlik looked quite rusty, that was to be expected. The Youngstown, Ohio, man was fighting for the first time since losing the middleweight title to Sergio Martinez by bloody decision in April 2010. Pavlik's problem with alcohol became worse after that and, after a family intervention, he went to alcohol rehabilitation. He spent two months there -- his second stint -- before coming out in January with an apparent commitment to sobriety and his career.

Two judges scored the bout 99-91 while the third judge had it 95-95.

"The ring rust sure showed, but I know I won the fight," Pavlik said. "I don't know what happened with that one scorecard [from Adalaide Byrd]. I felt I did pretty good. The ring rust showed." Said trainer Jack Loew: "There were two wins tonight. The first win was Kelly walking up the steps and getting in the ring. The second win was winning the fight."


Pavlik plans to campaign in the 168-pound super middleweight division now and this fight was at 170 pounds. There was not a lot of clean punching as Pavlik and Lopez spent long stretches grappling on the inside.

Pavlik, however, did land some solid right hands, including a bone-crunching one in the sixth round that seemed to hurt Lopez, 28, of Cut and Shoot, Texas, who was facing his first name opponent.

Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs), who says he has not had a drink since Nov. 1 or Nov. 2, did pick up some steam in the final round, hurting Lopez (21-1, 16 KOs) with another right hand and rattling him with several other shots. The crowd was getting excited for a knockout, but Lopez was able to survive the final 30 seconds, despite being in trouble.

"I started feeling his power in the later rounds, but I think I deserved the draw," Lopez said. "I think I connected with a lot more shots than he did."

So with his comeback out of the way, Pavlik will look for a bigger fight. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has designs on an eventual fight between Pavlik and popular Montreal-based super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute.

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Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield stopped Denmark's Brian Nielsen on a technical knockout in the 10th round Saturday night.

In the 10th round, the 48-year-old Holyfield pressed Nielson in the corner and the bout was halted after Holyfield landed several jabs in the corner and the Dane spat out some blood. Nielsen said after the bout he was hit by Holyfield's headbutts.

"My goal still is to be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world," Holyfield said. "This fight showed other champions what I am able to do, but it also taught me I got to be better. The most important is that I didn't quit. I am not quitter."

Despite being pressed and with a swollen eye, Nielsen kept on clowning to provoke Holyfield throughout the bout, prompting his trainer, Paul Duvill, to beg him to stop fooling around and focus on Holyfield.

But the Dane made a comeback in the eighth round, pushing a tired-looking Holyfield into the ropes with a series of combinations, before Holyfield turned it around in the 10th.

"It was a tough fight. He kept coming back. He kept coming back," Holyfield said. "He fought a very courageous fight."

Nielsen, with a bag of ice on his bloodied face, said he disagreed with the decision to halt the fight. He suggested a rematch to Holyfield.

"That's enough. I don't need a rematch," Holyfield said, laughing.

Holyfield's last appearance in the ring was in January. He was cut above the left eye by an accidental head butt in his fight against Sherman Williams and the bout was ruled a no-contest.

The audience at the soldout 2,100-seat Copenhagen Concert Hall included giant Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev and Denmark's Mikkel Kessler, who was forced to pull out of the Super Six tournament because of an eye injury.

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[BreakingBacks]

The Pacquiao vs. Mosley fight was a fucking joke. Mosley should never be allowed to fight again.