Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao didn’t give his fans the fight they wanted to see last month. He didn’t face the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. since the fighters’ camps couldn’t agree on the terms for the fight of the century. And his fans didn’t get to see the Filipino go toe-to-toe with the powerful "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who had never been knocked out in his career. Instead, they saw Manny chase Mosley around the ring, attacking him repeatedly while the larger man avoided contact from the Filipino fighter many consider the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer.

Before the fight, some wondered if Pacquiao, a congressman in the Philippines, might be looking past his older opponent or focusing on his other careers as a singer and politician. Some expect Pacquiao, who has won titles in eight different weight divisions, to finally fight a boxer too big for him to handle. Others pointed to Mosley’s three-inch height and seven-inch reach advantage as well at his longer ring history, although it’s been years since he was called the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer.

The fight looked like an equal matchup at the start, as both men probed each other’s defenses. Pacman looked less mobile than usual, wading in and trying to land a few hard blows before the counterpunching Mosley could return fire. When the fighters worked up to combinations in the second round, Mosley dodged some of the Filipino’s lunging shots, but not all of them, and Manny ended the round with an energetic flurry of punches that staggered his opponent and swayed the judges and crowd in his favor.

Satisfied that he could penetrate Mosley’s defenses without absorbing much punishment, Pacman opened up more in the third, moving more as he gained confidence, using his speed to find openings against his elder, slower opponent. Pacman exploited one of those openings by faking a punch and then landing a straight left to Mosley’s jaw. The blow dropped Mosley to the canvas for just the third time in his career, a clean knockdown that changed the flow of the fight.

Pacquiao had already said before the fight that he wanted to knock his opponent out, something he attempted for the next nine rounds to no avail. Pacman landed plenty of straight lefts, but Mosley backed away or clinched before his opponent could follow them up with solid combinations. The constantly retreating Mosley threw enough punches that the referee could not warn him for stalling, but the crowd soon turned against the timid challenger, booing him and chanting "Manny! Manny!" whenever Pacquiao pressed his advantage.

The fight looked like it might turn in the 10th round, when Pacman hit the canvas, only the fifth time the Filipino has been knocked down in his career. Replays showed that Pacquiao had slipped while ducking a punch from Mosley, and the referee later apologized to Manny’s corner for calling it a knockdown. But without instant replay in boxing, the bad call remained in the judges’ scorecards.

Still, the score remained undeniably in Pacquiao’s favor, and he forewent any semblance of defense in the final rounds, trying to put the backpedalling fighter down for good. The crowd changed their chants to "Knock him out!" and the cheers became increasingly mixed with boos as Mosley refused to engage Pacman.

After the fight ended, the judges gave the bout to Manny Pacquiao unanimously, the third such victory in a row by the Filipino. In the previous two bouts, some wondered if Pacman’s inability to knock out his opponent meant his reach had finally exceeded his grasp, after ascending seven weight divisions. The reason for his decision against Mosley, however, was undeniable: His opponent was running scared.

A battered Mosley called the knockdown "the most legitimate" in a long time, and called his opponent the fastest he’d ever seen, hitting him with power he’d never experienced before. Mosley said he’d been unwilling to take the risks necessary to win, and many excoriated him for quitting after the knockdown in the third round.

Fellow boxer Bernard Hopkins noted that Mosley touched gloves with Pacquiao before each round (fighters typically do this just once, at the start of the bout) and called it the "body language of submission." He preserved his no-knockout record, but little else, as the 39-year-old seems to have little future.

Pacquiao, on the other hand, said his legs had tightened up on him in the later rounds, making it difficult for him to generate power and leverage. The pain undoubtedly came from chasing his opponent around the ring. "I hit him in the third round," he said. "Then it was run, run, run."

Pacquiao will now look ahead toward the inevitable showdown with Mayweather, though the two fighters’ promoters could continue to dodge the superfight of the century to build up the suspense — and the financial return — as high as possible. Eventually, however, the promoters will, like Mosley last month, run out of time to avoid the inevitable.