Manny Pacquiao (right), lands a right to Joshua Clottey during their WBO boxing welterweight title fight at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, March 13, 2010. Pacquiao won via a unanimous decision. (AP)

DALLAS, Texas — Manny Pacquiao came out Saturday night looking for a knockout. Joshua Clottey showed up looking to avoid one.

Before 50,994 at Cowboys Stadium — the third largest boxing indoor crowd in American history — Pacquiao kept the mythical title of poundfor- pound king and retained the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight Crown with a one-sided 12-round decision.

“I felt I was in control after the first round,” said Pacquiao, who was a bit bruised but is nonetheless unharmed after conducting a punching exhibition against a guy who came to the bout possibly on survival-mode.

“He is incredibly tough,” said the Filipino southpaw after racking up his 51st win against three losses and two draws.

Pacquiao is expected to collect between $17 million to $20 million, including a share in the pay-per-view revenue, while Clottey stands to get $1.25 million and a slice of the pay per view (PPV) sales.

After feeling each other out in the early part of the first round, Pacquiao teed off as though he was standing in front of a punching bag, firing right hooks and left straights to the Ghanaian’s ribcage, left straights and right hooks and uppercuts that landed mostly on Clottey’s arms.

That was the tone of the fight with Pacquiao unloading almost at will and Clottey covering up and occasionally throwing combinations as Pacquiao brought back memories of his last year’s brawl with Miguel Cotto by standing still and letting Clottey hit him with uppercuts to the head and hooks to the body.

Pacquiao’s frustration showed in the fourth round when he threw simultaneous hooks to Clottey’s head, sending the crowd in stitches, and was immediately warned by referee Rafael Ramos for doing so.

Clottey was a bit busier in the succeeding rounds by connecting some of his shots but Pacquiao continued to unleash his best blows as well, preventing the three judges to think about giving the challenger enough credit.

In the end, Duane Ford of Nevada had it a shutout, 120-108, while Levi Martinez of New Mexico saw it 119-109 and Nelson Vasquez of Puerto Rico also had it 119-109.

Trainer Freddie Roach instructed Pacquiao to try to put an exclamation point to another fine showing, telling his pupil to go for a knockout but Clottey was determined to finish the fight on his feet.

“It’s hard to score a knockout when a guy is out to survive,” said Roach, a bit upset that Clottey did not go the extra mile in attempting to knock the WBO 147-lb and pound-for-pound crown off Pacquiao’s head.

But Clottey, who absorbed his fourth loss in 39 bouts, countered that he gave it all but “Pacquiao just had too much speed.”

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum was pleased with Pacquiao’s performance and the turnout, telling ringside reporters that “I think we will be able to come back here.”

Following Pacquiao’s win, the name the was on everyone’s lips was that of Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Arum said if only the American fighter decides to do away with random drug testing, the fight against Pacquiao will take place.

“If the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happens, we would be out of our minds if it doesn’t happen at Cowboys Stadium,” said Arum, who was congratulated by Texas billionaire Jerry Jones.

Arum’s Top Rank Inc. joined hands with Jones in staging the Pacquiao-Clottey clash and it is very likely that they would again co-promote another Pacquiao headliner.

“In terms of attendance, this was beyond my expectations,” said Jones, confident that with the right matchup, boxing could shatter the record 108,000 that showed up for the recent NBA All-Star Game.

As for Pacquiao, boxing was no longer in his mind as soon as Arum told the media that the boxer is itching to leave to fulfill another obligation.

A couple of blocks away at Texas Rangers ballpark, Pacquiao later delighted his fans by belting out a few songs.

Pacquiao won't be back in Manila until next week since he has a singing engagement in Honolulu this coming weekend.