It's over! Pacquiao KOs Mexico's Jorge Solis

A cut over the left eye of Manny Pacquiao, caused by a head butt in the sixth round, signaled the start of the fall of undefeated Jorge Solis, contender to his World Boxing Council (WBC) international super featherweight title at the Alamodome in Texas. Apparently sensing that the wound would soon cloud his sight, Pacquiao stepped up his attack on the Mexican, at one point rushing forward with such speed and force that Solis staggered back and fell on his butt. Then Solis found himself retreating in circles as Pacquiao chased him around the ring with a flurry of punches, a lot of them connecting. Only the bell saved Solis from sure defeat in the sixth. In the seventh round, Pacquiao gave him more of the same treatment, until the Mexican showed obvious signs of tiring. In the eighth round, just a round short of the prediction of his trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao knocked down Solis with 2:18 minutes left. About a minute later, with 1:16 left, he knocked his challenger a second time, prompting referee Vic Drakulich to stop the fight. Both fighters spent the first six rounds trying to find their range and rhythm, taking turns lunging at each other without doing much damage to each other. Solis, though taller and with a longer reach, carefully avoided getting too near the faster Pacquiao, who bobbed and weaved around him all over the ring. What started out so tentatively ended so suddenly — with Pacquiao retaining his World Boxing Council international super featherweight title and getting a chance to challenge Juan Manuel Marquez for the world title. The match was the main event of Blaze of Glory, staged on April 14 (April 15 in Manila). The judges were Larry O'Connell, Gale Van Hoy, and Oren Schellenberger. In an interview after the fight, Pacquiao said the sixth round was the turning point: "When he was saved by the bell, I knew that I had hurt him. So I decided to pressure him." Pacquiao threw 342 punches and landed 109, or 32 percent of the total. Solis threw 149 punches and landed only 43, or 29 percent. Also, Cristian Mijares (31-3-2) won a 12-round unanimous decision over fellow Mexican Jorge Arce to keep his WBC super flyweight title. Mijares opened a deep cut on the bridge of Arce's nose in the ninth round. Arce dropped to 46-4-1. Edgar Sosa (27-5) of Mexico City won the 12th and final round to claim the vacant WBC light flyweight over former Olympian Brian Viloria (19-2) of Hawaii. It was a majority decision with two judges scoring it 115-113 and the other calling it a draw. In a non-title welterweight bout, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. remained undefeated (31-0-1, 24 knockouts) when the referee stopped his fight against Anthony Shuler at 1:32 of the second round. Chavez, the son of former titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez, knocked down Shuler (20-5-1) twice in the round. The second time came after Chavez threw a quick combination to Shuler's head, knocking the Indianapolis fighter flat and bringing the stoppage without a count from the referee. - GMANews.TV, with an AP report