Pacquiao showing mercy to Rios...

[Augustane]

He wasn't following up on his punches, I saw Rios buckle in one of the late rounds and he let him off.

He should've thrown that right hook to the body more too.

I'm not really sure what to take away from that fight.

I'd like to see Pacquiao vs Bradley/Marquez rematch.

Well, he was certainly more cautious. He seemed like he was afraid of the right hand. What I took away from the fight, was that Pacquiao's developed new tricks to make up for his age. He was throwing those double-left straights with a lot more conviction. Uppercut-left straight was also something new. Before this match, I don't remember him throwing the right hook to the body either.

He had a slick swagger to him today. I would've described old Manny as intense, aggressive, and relentless; but I never thought I'd ever describe him as slick.

[sparkman0811]

I think Manny took it easy on this dude. He could have knocked him out. I believe Manny took it easy from rounds 7 or 8 onward. He was backing off a lot. The compassion by Manny is a sign that the guy in front of him is no threat to him. This is good move by Manny. So, Manny chooses to carry the fighter and almost fight at their level. So, when he fights tougher opposition he fights with more hunger and passion

[KING MEAT]

pac said it himself, he didnt want to kill rios

he really means he doesnt want to cause permanent damage,

[Motofan]

No way was that mercy. Landing a few incredibly hard punches and knocking a guy out will do less long term damage than 12 rounds of shots to the head. PAC fought cautious because he wasn't sure about his chin. He won every round but didn't go into the next gear to really finish Brandon.

[LastQuark]

I do honestly believe after watching this fight that Manny Pacquiao could have knocked out Brandon Rios if he'd went in guns blazing. It was risky against a guy with a big punch, but also yes I did notice the mercy thing near the end of the fight. In both the 11th and 12th rounds Manny stopped attacking and seemed like he didn't want to hurt Brandon.

Some may not like stuff like that, but it shows that he genuinely cares about the welfare of others. It goes beyond sportsmanship and shows what a class act he truly is.

Ask Provodnikov. He asked Pac to take it easy on Rios so he can fight him afterwards.

[DLT]

but yet you guys rip Floyd all the time for not going for the ko. You guys keep flipping so much. The funny thing is Pac is following Floyd so much that you have to keep flipping your stance, whether it be drug testing, boxing more, not going for the KO, or whatever. Too funny

[kardsufur]

Pacman is a great, great example and an asset to the sport of boxing. truly and all time great.

I know he coudlve pummeled rios some more, even beat him to a pulp the whole night but he chose not to... the early rounds, pacs hooks are just monstrous, even i can feel it.

but the man i saw in there is a man not only thinking about his future but for his opponents as well. pac was probably thinking as he was starting to tone down on the smackdown he was serving that rios is still a young kid with a long career ahead of him. he shouldnt go down the path that he gave margarito..

props to pacman.

the mercy thing is a joke. Pac contradicted himself saying on one hand he was showing mercy then on the other hand saying he didn't want to take a chance and get caught like he did with Marquez. So in reality he wasn't showing "mercy" so much as he was simply playing it cautious for once and not wanting ot get knocked out whereas the old pac would have went for broke.

Am I saying this is a bad thing? No. Old pac was more entertaining but dumber. New Pac is less entertaining but smarter and will win, and who cares. *****s love floyd for doing the same thing so let Pac do the same thing for once too and not get hate for it.