By Sammy Rozenberg

It was a rematch that was four years in the making. A packed Las Vegas crowd at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino saw Manny Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) win a clear unanimous twelve-round decision over Marco Antonio Barrera (63-6, 42 KOs).

The win was far from the beating Pacquiao gave Barrera in 2003 when he stopped him in eleven, but he still won with little to no trouble in a one-sided fight. The scores were  118-109, 118-109 and 115-112 for Pacquiao.

Barrera, in what was billed as his retirement sendoff, was content with fighting at a slow pace and going the distance. For unknown reasons, Pacquaio fought at Barerra's technical pace and thus he allowed him to survive.

There were moments where both fighters would exchange hard punches, but only in spurts. Barrera looked old, and very cautious as he stalled to pull the trigger when there were openings. Neither fighter was hurt or close to being knocked down. Pacquiao showed Barrera a lot of respect by not rushing in with a reckless nature. Barerra appeared to lose his temper in the eleventh round when he hit Pacquiao on the break. Referee Tony Weeks deducted a point from Barrera for the foul.

After years of giving so much to the sport with his warrior spirit, Barrera rides off into the sunset.

Barrera began his career in 1989 at 111-pounds and along the way won titles at 122, 126 and 130-pounds. Even with the flat finish, Barrera had a remarkable hall-of-fame career. The wins over opponents like Kennedy McKinney, Erik Morales, Naseem Hamed, Paulie Ayala, Enrique Sanchez, Jesus Salud, Jesse Benavides, Agapito Sanchez, Frankie Toled and Johnny Tapia have given him status as one of greatest fighters to come out of Mexico.

The trilogy with Morales is considered as the greatest in the history of Mexico and one the best in the history of the sport. Two of the three bouts with Morales won "Fight of The Year" honors. He will continue his presence in boxing, but as a manager and a partner with Golden Boy Promotions.

Pacquiao moves forward to bigger things and continues to solidify his status as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.

The real money fight for Pacquiao is an obvious rematch with WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (47-3-1, 35 KOs).  Marquez returns to the ring on November 3 in Arizona to defend his title against Rocky Juarez in a "keep busy" fight. Pacquiao’s 2004 draw with Marquez is still one of the biggest arguments in boxing. Experts are still divided as to which fighter should have gotten the decision that night.

Marquez is far from the only option, but the most profitable, the most sensible and the most requested by the fans.

There is also undefeated punching machine WBA Edwin Valero (22-0, 22 KOs), a big name with hardcore fans of the sport. But he means little in the money department, especially in the United States. He needs to be brought to the United States and built up properly towards a fight with Pacquiao. If Valero can keep knocking opponents out as he steps up in class, he can become one of the biggest names in the sport.

WBO champion Joan Guzman, also undefeated and regarded as a hidden treasure by experts, will take on Mexican brawler Humberto Soto on November 17 in fight expected by many to be a classic. The winner of this fight has also been said to be the possible next opponent for Pacquiao, if a fight with Marquez does not materialize.

On the undercard;

WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano (34-1, 15 KOs) won an easy twelve round decision over Antonio Davis (24-4, 12 KOs). Davis went down at the end of the eleventh and came close to being stopped in the twelfth, but managed to hang on to the final bell. The scores were 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109, all for Luevano.

In a battle of attrition, Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KOs) stopped an exhausted Yusaf Mack (23-2, 14 KOs) in round seven of a super middleweight eliminator. A counter left sent Andrade down in the first round, and the knockdown sparked a battle of power punches for six action rounds.

In the seventh, Mack took a voluntary knee after being exhausted. He was knocked down two more times after getting to his feet and referee Jay Nady waved off the fight.

Former champion Steve Forbes (33-5, 9 KOs) used his wits as a veteran to win a ten-round split decision over Francisco "Panchito" Bojado (17-3, 11 KOs). The scores were 96-94 Bojado, 96-94 Forbes and 97-93 Forbes.