Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito – Pacquiao Wows In Front of 41,000 Fans: His moral compass, integrity, sportsmanship,social status far surpasses any boxer last 100yrs

Next up for Top Rank Boxing, the matchups have changed, but a high-octane heavyweight doubleheader will still go down Saturday, Jan. 14, at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

In the 10-round main event, Efe “The Silent Roller” Ajagba will now take on St. Louis native Stephan “Big Shot” Shaw. Oscar Rivas was originally slated to fight Ajagba but had to withdraw with an eye injury.

Guido “The Gladiator” Vianello, who was scheduled to fight Shaw in the co-feature, will now face the upset-minded Jonnie Rice in a 10-rounder.

Ajagba-Shaw and Vianello-Rice will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ and includes a 10-round junior lightweight tilt between Adam “BluNose” Lopez and Abraham “El Super” Nova.

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Manny Pacquiao pleaded with referee to stop fight as he pulverised Antonio Margarito to become eight-division champion

Manny Pacquiao proved that size doesn’t matter when he battered Antonio Margarito to become an eight-division world champion.

Despite giving away several pounds and inches, ‘PacMan’ turned Antonio Margarito into a bloody mess as he won a lopsided 12-round decision and the vacant WBC junior middleweight in November 2010.

Pacquiao vs Margarito worringly allowed to go the distanceCredit: Getty

‘PacMan’ was worried about his opponent by round 11Credit: Top Rank – YouTube

By round four, Margarito appeared to be on borrowed time as his right eye began to swell due to the fractured orbital bone he’d suffered as a result of Pacquiao’s relentless attacks.

Amazingly, the Filipino boxing icon landed 474 punches on his opponent despite imploring referee Laurence Cole to stop the bout when three cuts opened up on Margarito’s face.

Footage from the fight shows Pacquiao pausing and taking several hopeful glances at the official in round 11 before continuing to pummel his rival.

The commentators agreed with him and loudly called for the fight to be called off, but Cole allowed Margarito to get beat up until the final bell rang at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.

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“I can’t believe that I beat someone this big and this strong,” Pacquiao said post-fight.

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

Ten years later, Margarito admitted he should’ve let his corner throw in the towel after seeing his career cut short because of the injuries he suffered at the hands of Pacquiao.

“The truth was that they mentioned that to me, when I went back to the corner, that [my face] was very bad and I told them not to stop the fight, I hoped I could catch him,” he told ESPN in 2020.

Margarito was allowed to continue despite having no chance at winningCredit: Getty

He never truly recovered from the beating Pacquiao gave himCredit: Getty

“I think it was in round seven that I nailed him with a hook down to the body and put him in a bad way… even Pacquiao himself mentioned it.

“But they did tell me that maybe it was time to stop it and I didn’t want to because I was hoping to catch him with a punch, but I was really wrong.”

Margarito fought Miguel Cotto 13 months later, but his eye still hadn’t fully healed and it ended up costing him as the referee waved off their fight at the start of round 10 because it was swollen shut.

The 45-year-old retired for four years before returning in 2016.

Margarito picked up two wins before facing Carson Jones in what turned out to be a seven-round slugfest due to a cut opening up on his face early on in the fight.

The Mexican got a technical decision victory when the bout was called off due to the gash before deciding to retire from fighting for good.