When Manny Pacquiao made the daring move up to the super welterweight division in November 2010, the global boxing community was filled with deep skepticism. Many fight analysts and fans questioned whether the Filipino icon had finally taken on a challenge far beyond his physical limits. Standing opposite him was Antonio Margarito, an intimidating and naturally massive super welterweight known to boxing fans as the "Mexican Tornado." Margarito possessed a grueling style, relentless forward pressure, and undeniable power at 154 pounds, even as he moved forward under the shadow of a high-profile hand-wrap suspension. To many observers at the time, Pacquiao stepping into the ring against a fighter of Margarito’s size looked like a potential bridge too far—a step up in weight that carried immense physical danger against an opponent who was neither undefeated nor undroppable, but who certainly possessed the tools to defeat him.
Margarito himself shared that exact mindset prior to the fight. Looking back on the buildup to their high-stakes bout, the former super welterweight titleholder recently revealed that when the match was first proposed to him, he was convinced that the significantly smaller Pacquiao would not be able to withstand his punching power once they traded blows in the ring. Speaking in a recent interview with Tribuna Sonora, Margarito provided a rare look back into his thoughts when he was first informed that he would be facing the pound-for-pound superstar.
Margarito’s perspective was largely shaped by his long memory of Pacquiao’s career trajectory. He recalled watching Pacquiao when he first made his way to the United States from the Philippines, arriving in Los Angeles to train at the Wild Card Boxing Club under the guidance of trainer Freddie Roach. At that early stage of his career, Pacquiao was competing as a light, energetic flyweight. Because Margarito had spent his career climbing into the higher weight divisions, the thought of facing a fighter who had started so light struck him as an unbelievable physical mismatch. When promoters brought him the proposal to fight Pacquiao at 154 pounds, Margarito’s initial reaction was supreme confidence.
Recalling his immediate reaction to the news, Margarito explained that he never envisioned Pacquiao lasting through the full distance against his physical pressure. He recalled thinking that the difference in raw size and power would inevitably determine the fight’s outcome, regardless of how fast or elusive Pacquiao might be in the opening rounds.
"I knew Pacquiao when he arrived from the Philippines, straight from the Philippines over there to Los Angeles with Freddie Roach, actually, as a flyweight," Margarito told Tribuna Sonora. "So I was moving up in weight classes and I said, no, honestly, I mean, when they told me I was going to fight him, I said, ‘No way. He’s not going to survive my fight.’"
Margarito’s strategic approach was built on a willingness to endure punishment in order to deliver his own heavy strikes. He reasoned that Pacquiao’s speed would allow him to land multi-punch combinations, but Margarito believed his chin and heavy frame would absorb those shots without issue. His primary objective was to take whatever punches came his way and wait for the single moment when he could connect with his own fight-altering power punches.
"It doesn’t matter, let him hit me five times for every one of mine, but when I catch him, well, honestly he’s going down," Margarito recalled thinking at the time.
Margarito Expected Victory
Heading into the highly anticipated event, the physical contrast between the two combatants was impossible to ignore. Pacquiao had spent the earliest chapters of his professional career at weights that made his eventual leap to the 154-pound division seem almost unimaginable to boxing historians. Margarito, on the other hand, was a sprawling, broad-shouldered fighter who towered over Pacquiao in height and possessed a significant reach advantage. The size differential was so pronounced that observers openly wondered whether Pacquiao’s athletic gifts could compensate for the physical toll of sharing the ring with a giant of the division.
However, when the opening bell rang inside Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the narrative Margarito had envisioned quickly unraveled. Rather than walking into Margarito’s heavy punches or being pinned against the ropes, Pacquiao delivered a masterful display of boxing genius. From the start of the first round, Pacquiao utilized his signature foot speed, rapid lateral movement, and blistering combination punching to keep Margarito entirely off balance. The Mexican champion found himself repeatedly searching for a stationary target that simply was not there.
Instead of the physical war of attrition Margarito had anticipated, the fight turned into a prolonged, one-sided dismantling. Pacquiao’s lightning-quick hands repeatedly penetrated Margarito’s defense, landing powerful punches with surgical precision. As the rounds accumulated, the relentless punishment took a severe physical toll on Margarito. By the time the final bell ended the twelve-round contest, Margarito’s severely damaged and swollen face told the unmistakable story of the fight.
The official scorecards reflected the total dominance displayed by Pacquiao over the course of the twelve rounds. The three ringside judges scored the bout overwhelmingly in favor of the Filipino star, turning in scorecards of 120-108, 119-109, and 118-110. The unanimous decision made it clear that Pacquiao’s speed, mobility, and ring vision had completely neutralized Margarito’s physical advantages.
In hindsight, Margarito admitted that his pre-fight calculation—that he could trade five punches taken for one punch landed—failed because he simply could not pin down the smaller, faster man. The problem was not his willingness to absorb damage, but his inability to land his own signature strikes in return.
"Unfortunately, well, I couldn’t reach him," Margarito confessed in his interview with Tribuna Sonora.
Despite being outboxed for the vast majority of the contest, Margarito did manage to create a few brief moments of danger for Pacquiao. During one of the rare instances when he managed to trap Pacquiao near the ropes, Margarito connected with a clean punch that forced the Filipino champion to pause and sit back on the ropes. However, before Margarito could capitalize on the opening and follow up with a sustained barrage, Pacquiao’s defensive instincts kicked in, allowing him to maneuver out of harm’s way and re-establish his rhythm at center ring.
"There was a moment when I caught him with a little hook, he sat down on the ropes and really, well, he got away," Margarito recalled. "But really I thought I was going to give him more of a fight. I would have liked to give him much more of a fight."
Pacquiao Became a Legend
Even before entering the ring at Cowboys Stadium to face Margarito, Manny Pacquiao had already secured his place as a future inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His historic victories over premier fighters across multiple divisions had already made him a global icon and one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of his era. However, it was his performance against Margarito—claiming a world title in an eighth distinct weight class—that elevated his status from a future Hall of Famer to a legendary Hall of Famer whose achievements stand at the very pinnacle of combat sports history.
Winning a world title at super welterweight marked the absolute peak of Pacquiao’s unprecedented multi-division championship run. Yet, while the final scorecards showed a decisive, lopsided victory, the physical reality inside the ring was far more grueling than the wide points margin suggested. Margarito’s immense power was a constant threat, and the Mexican veteran did manage to inflict severe physical discomfort on Pacquiao during the fight.
World Boxing News (WBN) reported live from the fight in 2010 that a powerful body shot from Margarito in the sixth round briefly dipped Pacquiao’s legs. It was a stark reminder of the immense physical danger Pacquiao faced by moving up to fight a true, heavy-hitting super welterweight.
Margarito revealed that Pacquiao himself openly admitted after the fight just how much damage that body blow and the overall physical force of the bigger man had caused him. According to Margarito, Pacquiao made it clear in subsequent media appearances that he had felt the dangerous weight difference and made a personal vow never to compete at 154 pounds ever again.
"He said it in interviews out of his own mouth," Margarito said, recalling Pacquiao’s candid post-fight reflections. "He said, ‘You know what? Honestly, Margarito hurt me and I’m never going to fight at that weight again.’"
That admission underscored the massive risk Pacquiao took by pushing his body to the absolute limit across eight weight classes. Margarito entered the ring with every physical advantage—height, reach, natural weight, and heavy hands—and genuinely believed those factors would eventually catch up to the smaller man.
Instead, Pacquiao overcame the physical tax, absorbed the excruciating body work, and thoroughly outworked the Mexican star over twelve rounds. In doing so, Pacquiao ensured that his journey from a teenager fighting at flyweight in the Philippines to an eight-division world champion would
