After facing the likes of Kennedy McKinney, Junior Jones, Erik Morales and Naseem Hamed, it must have been hard for Marco Antonio Barrera to be mentally ready to fight a guy nicknamed "Pac Man."

But what happened Saturday night in front of more than 10,000 Barrera fans at San Antonio's Alamodome was no video game. The one-sided beating that Manny Pacquiao handed Barrera was cold, hard reality.

Pacquiao, who improved to 38-2-1 (29), dropped Barrera twice and gave the Mexican idol -- recognized by most boxing fans and media as the featherweight champion -- such a sustained pummeling over 11 rounds that Barrera's brother and cornerman, Jorge, was tearfully forced to step inside the ropes and throw in the towel. That prompted referee Laurence Cole to wave the bout off at 2:56 of the 11th round.

Aside from the first round, when Barrera, now 57-4 (40), scored a questionable knockdown of Pacquiao, the Mexico City native was never in the fight.

"I'm surprised he lasted that long," Pacquiao said. "Very early on I knew I was going to knock him out."

"Tonight wasn't my night; there were a lot of distractions before this fight," Barrera told HBO's Larry Merchant after the fight. Barrera was alluding to the hoopla surrounding the revelation to the press that he had undergone brain surgery six years ago, as well as the fact that the California wildfires forced him to relocate his training camp a few weeks ago.

Distractions aside, Pacquiao was the better fighter Saturday night, and Barrera conceded his conqueror's superiority.

"He punches hard and he's a great fighter," Barrera said. "I couldn't see a lot of things. I don't know what went wrong, but that wasn't me in there."

Against the Pac Man, Barrera was in need of his old identity, that of the relentless pressure fighter nicknamed the "Baby-Faced Assassin." ­Instead, the cool, calculating counter-puncher he's performed as of late was not enough to hold off his younger, faster and stronger foe.

Before the fight, Barrera, who will turn 30 in two months, told the media that the aggressive 24-year-old Filipino fighter reminded him of his young self, and indeed, Pacquiao fought with the kind of burning passion that Barrera used to fight with during the '90s.

However, the southpaw challenger was not a wild man in the ring. He landed straight, accurate punches and set up all of his combinations to the body and head with a good, hard right jab.

That jolting southpaw jab set up the straight left that put Barrera on the seat of his pants at the start of the third round. That was the beginning of the end for the Mexican featherweight as Pacquiao out-punched and out-worked Barrera for the rest of the fight.

As Pacquiao pilled up punches, points and unintentional head butts, Barrera became increasingly frustrated and worn down. After scoring his share of punches in a competitive sixth round, Barrera looked like he wanted to stop fighting after absorbing a head butt that opened a cut over his left eye.

Although the blood stopped streaming after a three-minute break between rounds, Pacquaio's hard, sharp combinations did not stop in rounds eight and nine, when Barrera was docked one point for flagrantly hitting off the break.

Two years ago, it was Pacquiao who was frustrated and bleeding in a foul-filled brawl in San Francisco versus Barrera victim Agapito Sanchez. That fight ended in a technical draw, but to many observers it exposed Pacquiao as an exciting, but somewhat reckless and one-dimensional fighter.

What a difference 24 months have made, as Pacquiao's respected trainer Freddie Roach has helped to polish the Filipino slugger into a boxer-puncher with a solid technical foundation to back up his phenomenal speed, power and warrior spirit.

What's next for Barrera after this devastating loss depends on whether he still has the warrior spirit to go along with his superb skills and vast experience.

If the answer is yes, he will likely face Pacquiao in a rematch (Note: There is a rematch clause in Pacquiao's contract, so Barrera has that option if he wants to push it).

If the spirit is gone from the 15-year veteran, then he might retire from boxing.

Barrera's trainer Rudy Perez said he hopes this is the final bout for his fighter.

"It was a bad night for Marco," said Perez. "It's his decision, but I don't want him to fight again."

What's next for Pacquiao?

Bouts with countrymen Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez might be possible. Pacquiao's warrior spirit matches nicely with the warrior's rage Morales consistently exhibits in the ring, and the Filipino's come-forward style meshes perfectly with the counter-punching stance of Marquez.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.