Set in front of over 50,000 spectators at the new state of the art Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, the welterweight contest between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey was called The Event, but the battle fell far short of its lofty billing.

Don’t blame the Filipino marvel for the lack of fireworks though.

Pacquiao did his thing, darting in and out, throwing lightning fast punches in bunches, and gradually upping the intensity as the bout wore on. But, it takes two agreeable partners to make for a good scrap, and Clottey just didn’t take the kind of chances required to give the fight some desperately needed life.

Pacquiao threw three times as many punches as Clottey, an average of 100 a round, and landed as many power shots as Clottey threw. Final punch stats showed Pacquiao landing 246 of 1,231 punches to 108 of 399 for Clottey.

Clottey seemed content to hold his hands high in a peek-a-boo style through much of the early rounds, trying to pick off Pacquiao's punches and perhaps rally late. But he gave away round after round, despite landing some clean punches on the rare occasions when he would throw a combination.

"He's a very tough opponent," Pacquiao said. "He was looking for a big shot."

Pacquiao was supposed to have been fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. instead of Clottey, but the megafight fell apart over a dispute over blood testing. He took out any frustrations over losing the biggest fight of his career by beating up Clottey on the biggest stage of his career.

"I want that fight, the world wants that fight, but it's up to him," Pacquiao said. "I'm ready to fight any time."

The final scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109 and were a fair evaluation of the difference in class on display.