Pacquiao-Mosley blow by blow

Round 1

MANILA, Philippines - Really impressive entrances for the two fighters ... Bob Arum wasn’t joking when he said he had learned lessons from UFC and the likes of the Klitschko brothers in Europe. Live music — including a live rendition of “Eye of the Tiger!”

It’s the first mega-fight of 2011 in boxing. They spend most of the first round feeling each other out, with Manny Pacquiao using his speed to get the odd shot off quickly. Pacquiao digs in a big punch to the body. Shane Mosley responds with a body shot of his own. Pacquiao lands a quick jab. Both fighters clearly respect the other’s power. Mosley gets a right hand through clean but misses with a body punch. Pacquiao threatens with a left hook. Close round as both fighters were tentative. Difficult to score due to so little happening. Pacquiao probably took it with all round ringmanship, his speed clearly making Mosley uncomfortable.

10-9 Pacquiao

Round 2

Pacquiao is certainly far more tentative than in previous fights. Mosley talking to Pacquiao trying to goad him into a wild lunge. Both fighters are trying to hit while staying out of range. Both successfully connecting with long-range punches. Mosley doing well to avoid having Pacquiao dictate where the fight takes place. Pacquiao backs Mosley up with several quick punches to the body. Pacquiao flicking out the jab. Mosley fires out one of his own. Pacquiao goes for a flurry of punches later on but Mosley seems to have it covered. Another even round with Pacquiao clearly concerned about the threat posed by the bigger man. Another difficult round to score but Pacquiao probably took it just.

20-18 Pacquiao

Round 3

Pacquiao starting to push the pace in an attempt to use his speed to take the fight away from Mosley. Pacquiao getting more punches in. Pacquiao floors Mosley with a big left hand after a straight jab and Mosley is on glass legs. Pacquiao has a minute to get what could be the telling blow. Pacquiao pushing for the finish but Mosley doing well to avoid taking a clean shot. A big round for Pacquiao.

30-26 Pacquiao

Round 4

Pacquiao threatening Mosley as the challenger is allowing himself to be pushed around the ring. They engage on the inside and Mosley takes a tumble after a slip. Pacquiao connects with the jab and this looks like the mismatch we were all expecting. Mosley tries to find success with body shots but Pacquiao walks through with a hard one-two combo. Mosley falling backwards as Pacquiao is dominating. Mosley comes back with a nice little combination, although the hook lands on Pacquiao’s gloves.

40-35 Pacquiao

Round 5

Pacquiao is trying to connect with big hooks to the head of Mosley. Mosley complains about a clash of heads. Pacquiao flicking out the jab. Mosley doing better in standing his ground and got some tidy little body punches off. Pacquiao is starting to miss slightly and his decision to just go for power punches seems ill-judged given Mosley’s clear discomfort when Pacquiao punches in bunches. Instead Mosley is doing a good job of avoiding taking anything too powerful cleanly. Pacquiao’s round, but the fight has stabilized after it seemed on the brink of being over in the third.

50-44 Pacquiao

Round 6

Pacquiao turns up the pace midway through the round and Mosley is clearly struggling to match fire with fire. But Pacquiao clearly can’t sustain the pace for anything more than the occasional burst. And it’s when he slows down that Mosley is able to re-establish himself and claw his way back into the fight. Mosley is doing a good job of avoiding taking too much damage and is clearly trying to fight off the back foot and counterpunch Pacquiao.

Pacquiao is clearly frustrated but he’s 60-53 ahead.

Round 7

Mosley controlling the beginning of the round with his jab, as the crowd gets restless at the slow-paced fight. Pacquiao is trying to get inside of Mosley, but the defensive tactics are confounding the champion. Pacquiao puts together a flurry that has Mosley on his bike, but he never comes close to landing a telling blow. Mosley flicking out the jab and is really showing superior ringmanship in this round. Pacquiao puts together some good combinations. Crowd boos that round, not very happy at all. Difficult round to score with little action. Pacquiao was the aggressive but he landed nothing of any quality so I’ll give that to Mosley for superior ringmanship.

69-63 Pacquiao

Round 8

Pacquiao is clearly struggling to box his way inside Mosley. Mosley landed a right hand that spurred Pacquiao to put together a nice-looking flurry that was ended by another right hand from Mosley. Pacquiao is looking very flat here, struggling to force the openings to really punish Mosley. Pacquiao lands a couple of odd punches throughout the round, but could never put them together in a telling sequence. Mosley lands a good right hand on the gloves of Pacquiao toward the end. Another close round that but Pacquiao was more active than in the seventh.

79-72 Pacquiao

Round 9

Pacquiao is struggling like we have not seen for awhile, with Mosley’s disciplined counterpunching perfectly pitched to play the spoiler against the fast moving champion. Regardless Pacquiao’s performance is baffling as its all power punches and single shots when the third round should have gave him the template as to how he would secure a quick victory against Mosley. He does show better work towards the end and snaps Mosley’s head back with a straight punch.

89-81 Pacquiao

Round 10

More action in the 10th than the previous than in the past few combined. Pacquiao tries to push the action by once again increasing the speed and his punching volume. A Pacquiao flurry is cut shut by Mosley complaining of a clash of heads. Pacquiao resumes the flurry but isn’t quite landing the telling blow. Mosley pushes him down to the canvass with his right and incredibly the referee gives it as a knockdown. A furious Pacquiao comes forward and clips Mosley with a strong left that hurts the challenger. Best action of the fight but terrible officiating.

10-9 to Mosley based on the fact that Pacquiao took almost all the round save the “knockdown.”

98-91 Pacquiao

Round 11

Crowd is pumped, chanting ‘Manny’. Pacquiao is clearly angry and pouring forward, catches Mosley with a right hand that stiffens the veteran’s legs. Pacquiao is showing real quality to put his punches together and attack Mosley with fast combinations. Mosley again complaining about the clash of heads. Pacquiao really turning it up a notch, catches Mosley with a big right hand. Pacquiao slows down towards the end. Pacquiao’s round but it looks like Mosley is going to see this fight out.

108-100 Pacquiao

Round 12

Pacquiao starts fast but Mosley is the one who needs to attack in this final round. Mosley forces Pacquiao up against the ropes but the punches he gets off don’t seem to hurt the champion. Pacquiao guilty of holding and punching, goes hunting for the knockout. Setting a furious pace in the final minute with a right hook and a left hook hurting Mosley. But he can’t finish a fight that was expected to end early.

Pacquiao of course wins on all three judges scorecards in lopsided fashion, with one of them going as far as to ignore the knockdown that the referee incorrectly called. The scores are 119-108, 120-108, 120-107. Despite those scores it was a disappointing performance from the pound-for-pound king – (119-109 on Fox Sports scorecard)

Pacquiao defeats Mosley via unanimous decision to retain the WBO welterweight title, 119-108, 120-108, 120-107.