Crimson Crux

That might sound cruel as Oscar Larios is quite a nice guy, but that’s what really happened. There were some scares, but for the most part the Philippine (and world) boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao dominated the battle.

Manny wasn’t able to KO Larios, but he did send the Mexican twice to the canvas, in the 7th and 12th rounds. After being stunned by Larios’ furious flurry of punches in the 3rd, the Pacman managed to recover and pummel his foe with countless, hard-hitting blows that seemingly came from nowhere. Pedro Fernandez of Ring Talk has a good round-by-round narration of the fight.

“I really wanted to beat Pacquiao. But at the end of the night I lost to a great champion,” said Oscar Larios. Larios’ loss concluded a four-match sweep of the Filipino boxers against their Latino counterparts, in an event billed as a “Philippines vs. Mexico” war.

Two Mexican warriors impressed me today. The first one is Tomas Rojas, a lean and mean fighting machine with the flair (and hair) to match. He lost to Gerry Penalosa in their undercard, but he sure did wow me with his rabid determination.

The other fighter is no other than Oscar “Chololo” Larios, who displayed topnotch durability in the face of Pacquiao’s powerful punches. It helps that he has endeared himself to the Filipino boxing fans; he said in an after-fight interview, “Salamat, Filipinas!” (’salamat’ is Tagalog for ‘thank you’). A class act, this Larios is!

Missed the fight? Here’s a YouTube video showing the Introduction and National Anthems portion of the match. I’ll post more links as soon as I find more vids.

Postscript. Want more of Manny? Here are two more Crimson Crux entries on the Pacman: Mabuhay Ka, Manny! and More Pacman Fever.