If Marco Antonio Barrera was looking to improve on his 2003 performance against Manny Pacquiao, then he succeeded. However, if he was looking to add another win to his illustrious career, he came up short.

In front of a crowd of over 10,000 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Pacquiao used his quicker hands and more powerful punches to pave his way to a unanimous decision victory over Barrera. While Barrera boxed well and used a stiff jab to try to keep his opponent at bay, it simply wasn't enough. The judges scored the fight 118-109 (twice) and 115-112 for Pacquiao.

The fight started out with both fighters respecting each other, resulting in hard-to-score rounds. Barrera showed good defence against the much quicker Pacquiao, but Pacquiao's defence was much improved, too. Barrera, as is often the case, often got sucked into exchanges with his Filipino rival, during which he almost always came out with the short end of the stick. In the 11th round, Barrera had a point deducted for hitting Pacquiao in the face during the break, but by that point Pac-Man was already pulling away on the scorecards.

Pacquiao, 45-3-2 (35), has won his last six fights and has already established himself as an icon in his native Philippines and a first-ballot hall-of-famer in Canastota. Barrera, 63-6 (42), has said that he is happy with his performance and, like his fellow Mexican rival Erik Morales, plans on retiring. Pacquiao can now look ahead to fighting another Mexican--the man he drew with in 2004--Juan Manuel Marquez, as the two have unfinished business to settle. Now that promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy are on good terms, it should not be a difficult fight to make, and it is the best fight out there for either fighter.