In the fight, Pacquiao defeated Margarito via a lopsided unanimous decision. Pacquiao used his superior handspeed and movement to continuously batter Margarito to win his 8th world title in as many divisions.

Pacquiao had to implore referee Laurence Cole several times on the penultimate round to stop the fight as Margarito was in an extremely bad shape with a swollen face and a large cut beneath the right eye, but the referee let the fight continue. In the post-fight ring interview, Pacquiao said that he just waited for the 3 minutes to end during the last round and did not pummel Margarito as "Boxing is not for killing".