Round 1- It is worth noting that Barrera is coming off of a hot streak of wins going into this fight. Pacquiao blows kisses to the booing crowd on his way into the ring. Early, Pacquiao trips over Barrera’s foot and hits the deck. Referee Laurence Cole incorrectly rules this as a knockdown. From there, Barrera does better work with the jab, and seems to slightly edge Pacquiao when trading to the body, despite obviously having slower hands. Following this two point lead for Barrera, things would get all bad for him from here.

Round 2- Barrera is keeping the jab out there, but Pacquiao is showing a good defense for it. After blocking a combination with his arms, Pacquiao taunts Barrera before sneaking in several 1-2’s through his guard. Barrera catches Pacquiao late with a combination on the ropes only for Pacquiao to respond with a plethora of body shots.

Round 3- The left eye of Barrera is swelling a bit already from the right jab of Pacquiao, which he uses as a set up to crack Barrera on the jaw with a perfect left hand, sitting him on the seat of his pants. As Pacquiao goes to follow up, Barrera shows the heart of a warrior and slugs back. Though Barrera gets in some counter rights, Pacquiao responds each time with quick flurries. Awesome round, and a great one for PacMan.

Round 4- With Barrera seemingly unable to jab Pacquiao or catch him with any meaningful right hands, Pacquiao is able to catch him clean with left hands over and over again. A couple of exchanges occur in the round, and Pacquiao is easily getting the better of them. Pacquiao has been getting through the guard of Barrera all night thus far.

Round 5- The hand speed of Pacquiao seems to be too much for Barrera, who looks discouraged throughout the round. Pacquiao is the agressor, and even though he is not as busy as he has been in earlier rounds, he still gets in enough jabs and left hands to be the clear winner of the round.

Round 6- Pacquiao spends a good portion trapping Barrera on the ropes before peppering him with hooks and uppercuts to the body and head. Barrera does land counter with a combination, and Pacquiao invites him to trade. Both have success in the exchanges, and this is definitely Barrera’s best round since the first, but Pacquiao is landing more blows and superior ones. A nice left uppercut-right hook combo to the jaw drops Barrera again, but the ref fails to rule this a knockdown. If anything, this sequence should have been ruled as a knockdown instead of the slip that occured in the first.

Round 7- Barrera lands a couple of right hands, but Pacquiao responds by getting him against the ropes with a barrage to the body. The momentum by Pacquiao is ended when an accidental head clash opens a cut above Barrera’s left eye. Barrera does manage to land a good left uppercut on Pacquiao, but Pacquiao recovers quickly, taunts him, and outguns him in the remaining exchanges. Barrera even headbutts Pacquiao to cease one of his combinations.

Round 8- As they trade early, Pacquiao continues to consistently beat Barrera to the punch with his superior hand speed. Another accidental butt hurts Barrera, and Pacquiao takes advantage by following up with a combination that drives him into the corner. Pacquiao is wisely finishing his combinations with the jab, which has been very effective. Barrera’s promotor, Oscar De La Hoya looks concerned in between rounds, but little did he know that he’d end up receive as bad if not worse of a beating at the hands of Pacquiao years later.

Round 9- After Barrera starts the round with a successful combination, Pacquiao responds with an assortment of quick power shots that get him against the ropes. Frustrated, Barrera hits Pacquiao on the break, which causes him to lose a point. Pacquiao does some successful counterpunching in the round, and spends the last portion of the round assaulting Barrera against the ropes. The mouthpiece of Barrera has been hanging out, as he is clearly winded and broken down. Big round for Pacquiao.

Round 10- Now Barrera looks mentally beaten, as he is hardly throwing anything besides a pawing jab and is staying on the move. Pacquiao seems to have stepped off the gas as well, but scores with enough quick combos to the head to make it another definite round for him.

Round 11- Pacquiao is on top of Barrera right away, landing combinations at will. At one point while getting teed off on, Barrera tries to clinch before a left to the body drops him. Though the knockdown did seem moreso from exhaustion, it is still definitely credible. Pacquiao pounces on him immediately. As he continues to punish Barrera along the ropes with his flurries, Barrera steps up to save him. What a superstar-making, masterclass performance by Pacquiao, who moved up to dominate, beat up, and stop a prime hall of famer who was a top five pound for pound fighter at the time. This would also be the only official stoppage loss of Barrera’s career too. Even though Barrera would have plenty of more fights following this, he would lose their rematch once again in one-sided fashion.