Cuba's Yordenis Ugas overcame Manny Pacquiao by a unanimous decision in their hastily convened bout on Saturday night to retain his WBA welterweight title in Las Vegas.
Ugas only had 11 days' notice to prepare to fight the Philippines great, whose scheduled contest with Errol Spence Jr had to be called off when Spence suffered a torn retina.
Despite the short preparation, Ugas did not miss a beat, with two judges scoring the fight his way 116-112 and the third 115-113.
While many observers believe this might have been the last fight of Pacquiao’s decorated career, the Philippines senator said afterwards he had not yet decided whether or not to retire.
"I don't know, let's just see," said Pacquiao, whose record dropped to 62-8-2. "Let me relax first and make a decision.
"I'm sorry I lost tonight, I did my best but my legs were very tight and that is why I couldn't move as well as I wanted."
Many expect Pacquiao to now enter the race to become the Philippines' next president.
The clear favourite of the 17,438 fans at the T-Mobile Arena, southpaw Pacquiao came out aggressively in the early rounds with his trademark speed and combinations.
Ugas's long reach enabled him to keep the former champion at arm's length, however, and his jab was proving an effective, if not fight-winning, weapon.
Pacquiao continued to throw almost twice as many punches as his opponent, but the Cuban was more accurate with his, and there was plenty of sting in the big rights he was starting to land over the top.
The crowd was reduced to a nervous silence as the fight headed into the final rounds with no sign of the knockout that Pacquiao needed to come out a winner.
Ultimately, though, Pacquiao's ageing legs had nothing more to give and Ugas, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, earned the decision to improve his record to 27-4.
"Now the plan is to unify the title," Ugas, 35, said in the ring.
"Everyone said he was the champion, now they know who the real champion is."
