ALLAN THE MAN

Manny Pacquiao's one-sided demolition of American Chris Algieri should have been stopped in the ninth round, analysts said a day after the "Pacman" won a unanimous decision and handed Algieri his first professional loss.

Pacquiao dropped Algieri twice in the ninth round, first when he connected on a left cross that put the American on his back, and again shortly after when Algieri had to take a knee against a barrage of punches from the Filipino.

Boxing analyst Ed Tolentino believes that at this point, referee Genaro Rodriguez should have stepped in and put a stop to the beatdown.

"He was almost flattened," Tolentino said of Algieri on ANC's "Headstart" on Monday. "He barely beat the count. Even (Top Rank chief executive) Bob Arum was overheard telling to stop the fight, because it was clearly a mismatch."

"Well, according to the referee, he didn't feel the need (to stop the fight) because he thought Algieri was not seriously hurt," he said.

But Tolentino disagrees with this.

"I thought at that point, it could have been stopped. (Algieri) was getting battered, and he was reduced to a punching bag at the time," he explained.

Even Pacquiao thought that the fight would be stopped at that point, as the referee briefly stepped between the two fighters as the "Pacman" was trying to unload more punches on Algieri.

Algieri survived until the end of round nine, but was knocked down again in the 10th round. Remarkably, he made it to the final bell but lost widely on all three of the judges' scorecards.

Pacquiao said after the fight that he wanted to go for the knockout but also tried to be cautious and avoid a scenario like the one that occurred against Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012, when he was knocked out with a second to go in the sixth round.

Boxing analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz believes, however, that Pacquiao again showed compassion for Algieri and that the "Pacman" clearly looked to the referee to stop the fight in the ninth round.

"There was a point in the ninth round where he dropped Algieri twice, and he looked to the referee to stop it, parang telling him to stop it," said Nathanielsz, noting that Pacquiao did the same when he fought Antonio Margarito in 2010.

"Whether you like it or not, the compassionate nature of Pacquiao comes out. Good-looking, nice young man like that, who has been so respectful, why would you want to maul him?" he said.

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