Scorecard: Manny Pacquiao still has it, dominates Jessie Vargas in 12 rounds

— -- A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:

Saturday at Las Vegas

Manny Pacquiao W12 Jessie Vargas - Fight recap
Wins a welterweight title
Scores: 118-109 (twice), 114-113
Records: Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs); Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Pacquiao, the 37-year-old Filipino legend, showed he still has it with this impressive one-sided win to regain a welterweight title (despite the horrendous 114-113 card turned in by judge Dave Moretti, who would have had it a draw had Pacquiao not scored a knockdown). It was Pacquiao's second lopsided win in a row since the loss to Floyd Mayweather in their 2015 mega fight and Pacquiao's first since his brief retirement following his win over Timothy Bradley Jr. in April and subsequent election to the senate in his home country. Pacquiao, a southpaw and boxing's only eight-division world titleholder, may not have gotten the knockout he so badly wanted (because he hasn't had one since 2009) but he pounded Vargas, 27, of Las Vegas, with a variety of punches from angles, including a sharp straight left hand that dropped him in the second round.

Vargas, who was making his first title defense, was game and landed some nice shots on Pacquiao, but he was outclassed by the all-time great, who put on the rousing performance with the supposedly retired Mayweather, his invited guest, sitting ringside with his daughter in a surprise appearance. It is clear the wheels are in motion for a rematch of boxing richest fight ever. Their first fight was a massively anticipated showdown but turned out to be a wholly forgettable fight and nothing more than a business transaction based on naked greed. But a rematch is inevitable since neither fighter can make anything close to what they will make to do it again.

Jessie Magdaleno W12 Nonito Donaire Full undercard recap
Wins a junior featherweight title
Scores: 118-110, 116-112 (twice)
Records: Magdaleno (24-0, 17 KOs); Donaire (37-4, 24 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Despite a scoring that many disagreed with, this was a helluva fight between a young up-and-comer in Magdaleno, a 24-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas, and a proud veteran four-division titleholder in Donaire, 33, a Philippines native living in Las Vegas, who was making his second title defense. They battled hard from the opening bell and by the time the fight was over both looked they had been in a tough fight. Magdaleno was cut over his left eye from an accidental clash of heads in the fourth round and Donaire had bruises and welts on his face and needed three stitches to close a cut around his right eye. Magdaleno put rounds in the bank in the first half of the fight but Donaire closed the fight in dominant fashion. The judges, however, seemed to ignore that. Many had the fight a draw or either man winning by a smidge. Judge Adalaide Byrd's very wide scorecard seemed dramatically off with Donaire upset by the decision and asking for a rematch.

Oscar Valdez TKO7 Hiroshige Osawa
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs); Osawa (30-4-4, 19 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Valdez, 25, of Mexico, could be on his way to major fights and big money but after winning a vacant world title by second-round knockout of Argentina's Matias Adrian Rueda in July, he got his title reign off to a strong start as he took apart mandatory challenger Osawa, 31, of Japan, who was taking a massive step up in opposition. Valdez brutalized him in a one-sided fight, dropping him with a clean right hand on the chin in the fourth round and battering him with a series of heavy blows in the seventh round until referee Vic Drakulich stopped the bout at 1 minute, 50 seconds. Now that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and adviser Al Haymon are willing to match their fighters, Valdez could find a wealth of quality opponents in his future, such as the Carl Frampton-Leo Santa Cruz II winner, the Jesus Cuellar-Abner Mares winner or Lee Selby.

Zou Shiming W12 Prasitsak Phaprom
Wins a vacant flyweight title
Scores: 120-107 (twice), 119-108
Records: Zou (9-1, 2 KOs); Phaprom (39-2-2, 24 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: In 2014, Zou, the two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist, dropped Phaprom twice and routed him by decision. Phaprom, 35, of Thailand, regrouped to win a dozen fights in a row by knockout and landed a rematch with Zou for one of the belts vacated by Juan Francisco Estrada. The rematch was equally one-sided as Zou, 35, scored a second-round knockdown on a clean right hand and won every round on each judges' card except one. Phaprom was basically a punching bag for Zou, who was taller, stronger, quicker and plain old better. It's a huge win for Zou, who is China's most popular fighter and figures to make huge money there for as long as he can hang on to the belt.

Also on the card, lightweight Robson Conceicao (1-0, 0 KOs), 28, made his professional debut less than three months after becoming the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing, doing so at home in Rio de Janeiro Games. Conceicao, a three-time Olympian, cruised to a shutout decision (60-54 on all three scorecards) against Clay Burns (4-3-2, 4 KOs), 29, of Alexandria, Louisiana.

Saturday at Potsdam, Germany

Tyron Zeuge TKO12 Giovanni De Carolis
Wins a super middleweight title
Records: Zeuge (19-0-1, 11 KOs); De Carolis (24-7-1, 12 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: On July 16, De Carolis, 32, of Italy, retained his world title by majority draw against Zeuge, 24, of Germany, in his first defense and a rematch was quickly arranged. The sequel was a thriller with a lot of back and forth action before the dramatic ending. Zeuge seemed to take command in the second half of the fight although both appeared exhausted as the fight went into the 12th round. But Zeuge mustered the energy to buckle De Carolis with a left hook that forced him to hold on. Zeuge nailed him with another hook to the head and he fell to the mat face first. He beat the count but took several more shots and seconds later fell into the ropes after taking a right to the body. De Carolis got tangled up in the ring ropes and as he got to his feet referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 41 seconds. This was a very good fight.

Friday at Corona, Calif.

Taras Shelestyuk W10 Jaime Herrera
Welterweight
Scores: 96-93 (twice), 95-94
Records: Shelestyuk (15-0, 9 KOs); Herrera (15-4-1, 8 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Shelestyuk, 30, was a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist for Ukraine and now lives in Los Angeles, where he spars regularly with future Hall of Famer Shane Mosley. Headlining Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation," he was a decided favorite against Herrera, but had his struggles in tight fight. Shelestyuk, a southpaw, found his groove in the second half of the fight and deserved the decision, although referee Raul Caiz Jr. docked a point from him for excessive holding in the fifth round. Herrera gave a big effort, but his skill set is just not on the same level as Shelestyuk's. Herrera, 27, of Chicago, saw his three-fight winning streak go by the wayside.

Constantin Bejenaru W10 Stivens Bujaj
Cruiserweight
Scores: 97-91 (three times)
Records: Bejenaru (12-0, 4 KOs); Bujaj (16-1-1, 11 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: In a battle of unbeaten undefeated fighters, Bejenaru, a 32-year-old southpaw from Moldova who fights out of Catskill, New York, survived a fifth-round knockdown on a left hook to win rather handily in a dirty fight filled with head butts and fouling. However, Bejenaru, who suffered a nasty cut over his left eye, was a lot busier and also benefited when referee Raul Caiz Sr. docked a point from Bujaj, 26, a native of Albania based in New York, for hitting on the break in the ninth round.

Manuel Mendez KO1 Vitor Jones Freitas
Lightweight
Records: Mendez (13-1-2, 9 KOs); Freitas (12-1, 6 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Mendez, 26, of Indio, California and fighting in front of his home region fans, pulled an upset as he drilled Freitas, 23, of Brazil. Freitas, who is the nephew of Brazilian legend and former lightweight and junior lightweight titleholder Acelino "Popo" Freitas (who was ringside) went after Mendez, who is trained by Joel Diaz, early in the opening round and seemed to be in control. But then Mendez went on the attack and hammered Freitas with a left hook to the body. Freitas went down in major pain and referee Tom Taylor counted him out at 2 minute, 32 seconds. Freitas stayed down well after the count was complete.

Friday at Las Vegas

Andy Vences Tech. Dec. 9 Casey Ramos
Junior lightweight
Scores: 88-83, 87-84, 86-85
Records: Vences (17-0, 10 KOs); Ramos (23-1,6 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: It doesn't happen often, but Top Rank matched two of its undefeated prospects in the "Solo Boxeo" main event on UniMas. Vences, 25, of San Jose, California, and Ramos, 27, of Austin, Texas, but on a good display of boxing and both looked pretty good after a slow start. By the seventh round, Ramos was bleeding from his nose. An accidental head but opened a cut around Ramos' left eye in the ninth round. Later in the round, referee Vic Drakulich had the ringside doctor take a look at Ramos eye and on the doctor's advice stopped the bout at 1 minute, 12 seconds. They went to the scorecards for a technical decision and Vences came out on top in a competitive fight.

Alex Saucedo vs. Raymond "Tito" Serrano
Welterweight
Scores: 77-74 (twice), 76-75
Records: Saucedo (23-0, 14 KOs); Serrano (21-4, 9 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Saucedo, 22, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a very bright prospect and took a bit of a step up in competition against Serrano, 27, of Philadelphia, who was fighting for the first time in 13 months and coming off a loss but whose defeats had only come to good opponents (Karim Mayfield, Emanuel Taylor and Brad Solomon). It was a tough fight but Saucedo had the better of the action, including late in the second round when he scored a knockdown with a right hand. Saucedo was the aggressor in an entertaining fight and this was the kind of win every prospect needs on his way to bigger and better things.

Also on the card, Philadelphia super middleweight prospect Jesse Hart (21-0, 17 KOs), 27, the son of 1970s middleweight contender Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, knocked out Andre Hernandez (16-5-1, 7 KOs), 30, of Phoenix, at 1 minute, 59 seconds of the third round. Hart dropped Hernandez in the first round before finishing him with a flurry in the third round.