By Dan Ambrose: Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight to capture the vacant junior middleweight title at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Pacquiao’s work rate and speed was simply too much for Margarito, and he ended up losing by a fairly lopsided decision. It was competitive for the most part, but Margarito really wore down in the last four rounds and seemed a little weight drained from the struggle to squeeze down to make the 150 pound catch-weight that Pacquiao’s team insisted on for this fight. The final judges’ scores were 119-109, 120-108 and 118-110.

With this win, Pacquiao now holds the WBC junior middleweight title, which no one expects him to ever defend. Pacquiao will now likely move back down to the welterweight division and look to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. or someone else like Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez or the winner of the Timothy Bradley v. Devon Alexander bout.

In the 1st round, Margarito attempted to keep Pacquiao on the outside using his jabs. However, Pacquiao quickly darted through Margarito’s guard and began landing hard left hands to the head. Margarito’s jabs were a poor defense against Pacquiao, because he didn’t seem to be bothered by them in the least.

In rounds two and three, both fighters traded big shots. Pacquiao fought more flat footed and was getting hit with some hard punches from Margarito. However, Pacquiao was clearly getting the better of Margarito by throwing combinations. Margarito didn’t seem to be bothered by Pacquiao’s punches at this point in the fight. Pacquiao looks to be the weaker fighter.

In rounds four and five, Pacquiao landed nicely with combinations that snapped Margarito’s head back. Pacquiao seemed to be trying to overwhelm Margarito with punches in the same way he did with Oscar De La Hoya and attempted to do with Joshua Clottey. It’s not working nearly as well, because Margarito isn’t folding or just covering up the way that De La Hoya and Clottey did. Margarito’s cheek looks swollen.

In round six, Margarito pressured more, landing hard shots. Pacquiao is starting to show fatigue a little. Pacquiao answers back with punches of his own late, but not with the same kind of power that Margarito had been hitting him with. This was a good round for Margarito.

Margarito was examined by the ringside doctor in the 7th for his cut, but the fight was allowed to continue. Pacquiao scored well with left hands, but Margarito landed some nice right hands in a back and forth round. Margarito pressuring and Pacquiao firing fast shots.

In the 8th, Margarito came back firing big shots, connecting with a nice uppercut that snapped Pacquiao’s head back. Margarito trapped Pacquiao against the ropes and landed some nice shots. Pacquiao was fighting Margarito’s fight at this point and totally ignoring advice from his trainer Freddie Roach. Margarito really wound up on his shots at this point in the fight similar to his bout with Miguel Cotto in 2008.

Pacquiao looking exhausted and old in the 9th round, as Margarito continues to pressure him and force him to fight harder than he’s had to since his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez two years ago in 2008. Margarito landed well with shots with Pacquiao fighting off the ropes. Pacquiao not throwing as many punches at this point in the fight. Pacquiao landed some hard shots late. The judges probably gave Pacquiao the round based on those late shots, but it looked like Margarito was the stronger fighter in the round.

Margarito was hurt in the 10th round with Pacquiao unloading on him with fast shots. Margarito’s cut seems to have worsened at this point and he looked really tired. Near the end of the round, Pacquiao had him hurt but Margarito was able to escape the round without going down.

In the 11th round, Pacquiao really hammered Margarito with combinations, blasting him at will, as Margarito is looking beaten and fighting on the defensive. Pacquiao, however, lacks the major league power to take Margarito out the way that Shane Mosley did last year when he had Margarito hurt in the 9th. Margarito looked done at the end of the round.

In the 12th, Pacquiao landed a lot of punches but was unable to put Margarito away. Pacquiao’s shots not hard enough, but he certainly landed a lot of them. Margarito did very little in the round.