ARLINGTON, Texas — Manny Pacquiao defended his welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey in front of 50,994 fans inside Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.

Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 knockouts), who won by scores of 120-108 and 119-109 (twice), was simply too active for Clottey, who was put into a defensive shell for most of the fight.

He made it look easy but he said it was more difficult than it appeared.

“It was not an easy fight, it was hard. He's a hard fighter,” Pacquiao said after the fight. “I felt his power. He is very strong.”

Clottey (35-4, 21 KOs) was humble in defeat.

“I can tell you, this is the first time I lost a fight,” the Ghanaian contender said afterward. “All my other losses, I never thought I lost. But this time, I lost.”

Now the boxing world turns it's eyes to the May 1 Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather welterweight showdown.

Pacquiao said he is willing to fight the winner, but he and trainer Freddie Roach were clear that they would not back of their stance on Mayweather's drug testing stipulations, which was the impasse that dashed their all-but-made bout earlier in the year.

Full on-site post-fight columns from Doug Fischer and Michael Rosenthal will be posted soon.