Pacquiao gets best of Barrera

LAS VEGAS -- Marco Antonio Barrera kept talking about saving the best for last in his planned final major fight Saturday night against Manny Pacquiao.

It wasn’t good enough.

Pacquiao, relying on his hand speed and power, landed more punches and won the majority of the fighters’ entertaining exchanges en route to a unanimous decision victory in front of 10,112 at Mandalay Bay’s Events Center. Judge Tom Schrek scored it 115-112 and the other two judges, Jerry Roth and Glenn Trowbridge, each had it 118-109, all for Pacquiao.

Nearly five years younger than Barrera, Pacquiao (45-3-2) defeated Barrera for the second time in four years, finalizing the super-featherweight victory when Barrera had a point deducted for punching Pacquiao on referee Tony Weeks’ break late in the 11th round.

“He’s a good, smart boxer; I knew he would have to box me this time around,” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao had opened a cut under Barrera’s right eye earlier in the 11th round on what Barrera said was a head-butt.

“I felt like I dominated the fight with my left hand, but then I got caught by the head-butt,” Barrera, 33, said in the ring afterward.

Barrera (63-6), who has lost two straight fights, said, “This is my last fight in this beautiful sport.”

The early rounds were marked by Pacquiao scoring with attacks that showcased his punching speed, but Barrera proved coy, responding with effective counter-punches and clean strikes.

The fighters engaged in good slugfests in the fourth and fifth rounds. Pacquiao nailed Barrera with an impressive right and left in the fifth, but Barrera showed the benefit of experience by standing firm.

“I got caught up in the action,” Barrera said. “I should’ve boxed him more.”

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said, “I was surprised [Barrera] lasted the way he did. He has lots of heart and guts.”

Roach called Pacquiao’s footwork “beautiful,” and his boxer snapped a right to Barrera’s head and rattled his jaw with a second right in the sixth. The action slowed into the ninth, when the southpaw again belted Barrera with lefts. The proud Barrera came back with a pair of late scoring punches.

After the drama of the 11th, Pacquiao urged on Barrera in the 12th, but the fighter went quietly toward retirement, throwing only a few meaningless jabs in the final 10 seconds.

Earlier, Southland fighters were 2-1 on the under-card.

La Puente’s Steven Luevano (34-1) retained his World Boxing Organization featherweight title with a unanimous decision by out-boxing Antonio Davis (24-4) and knocking him down in the 11th round. Luevano, 26, continually beat Davis to the punch and cut him under the left eye, a gash that required a doctor’s attention in the ninth round.

La Habra’s Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KOs) rallied from a first-round knockdown and several other rough exchanges with Yusaf Mack (23-2-2) to knock Mack down three times in the seventh round. Referee Jay Nady stopped the bout with 25 seconds to go in the seventh, giving Andrade the vacant United States Boxing Assn. super-middleweight title.

Francisco “Panchito” Bojado of Los Angeles suffered a split-decision loss to former super-lightweight world champion Steve Forbes. Bojado (18-3) showed the power-punching ability that made him a 2000 Olympian for Mexico, but Forbes (33-5) stayed busier and backed up Bojado in the 10th.

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lance.pugmire@latimes.com