Anyone that?s watched television lately has seen ads for a show debuting this week. Amid scenes of action and carnage, an announcer asks, ?What if you had to relive one day over and over again??
The show is called ?Daybreak,? and, hard as it may be for boxing fans to believe, it has nothing to do with the third installment of Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales, also hitting airwaves this week.
The first two outings were as action-packed as any ABC promo and more than held their own in the blood and guts department. And, for all that the storylines have changed from bout I to bout III, it might as well be the same day.
Scene 1, Winter 2004: The scene opens with Erik Morales coming off of a career-shaking loss to archrival Marco Antonio Barrera. Rather than ease back into the win column, he signs on to fight one of the top pound-for-pounders in the game in Pacquiao.
Scene 2, Fall, 2005: It is ten months later. Or is it? Again, our scene takes us to Erik Morales, coming off of a career-shaking loss. This time, he was upset in a showcase bout by little-regarded Zahir Raheem. Despite the widely-held belief that the lopsided unanimous decision should be a sign that Morales is not prepared for a rematch with Pacquiao, plans for the return bout go on as scheduled.
Scene 3, Spring, 2006: Different month on the calendar, same career crossroads. After suffering a knockout loss in the rematch, Morales finds himself faced with the downside of his career. As he did the first two times, El Terrible again charges face first into the fire, signing on for a rubber match.
?You know, at the first fight I needed to win,? says Morales, though he could be talking about any installment in the trilogy. ?I had an urgency. I needed to get credibility back in my career after coming off a tough loss.?
And this Saturday? ?You know this is a very important fight. I know that I need to win… I?ve taken this fight very seriously and yes it?s very important to win it.?
Our next scene takes us back to Fight One. It looks more like a commercial, however. The screen is filled with a selection of fluffy boxing gloves, ready to burst with extra padding. ?Winning Gloves,? reads the caption, ?protect your hands with the soft touch.?
Quick cut to another selection of gloves just prior to the rematch. ?Reyes Gloves, the puncher?s choice,? reads the tagline.
?I had the right gloves,? says Pacquiao of the rematch. ?I used my right hand more effectively.?
For the finale, the outcome will again give a referendum on a product. The spotlight isn?t focused on the brand of gloves, but on Velocity Sports Performance?a training franchise that Morales has turned to in his effort to make weight and prepare for the fight.
?Yes, working with Velocity has been a real good thing to do,? says Morales.
Still not buying the Groundhog Day premise? Let?s jump to the end of the first fight. Looking back at his performance, here?s what the winner has to say. ?I think I was ready. I prepared myself as well as I ever have for that first fight and it showed.?
The loser writes off his performance by saying, ?The first one?the problem with the first fight was there was a lot of distractions with my manager and my promoter and my personal problems.?
Jump ahead to the second fight. The winner says the same thing. ?I did great. I trained harder, and we made our training count.?
Here?s what the loser has to say about the second fight. ?For the second fight, you know, I just made so many, just make too many changes in my routine from my camp, on everything. Just make too many changes that I shouldn?t have done. I should have just stayed with what I had and I mean you learn and I think that?s the big difference.?
Of course, everything isn?t exactly the same. Despite the similar quotes, the winner of fight one is fight two?s loser. Morales promises that he?ll be ready for the third match-up. ?I?m going to be as ready as I?m ever going to be for a fight,? he says.
Pacquiao, winner of the most recent installment, provides a quote that keeps the deja vu flowing. ?We trained the hardest for this fight. We worked twice as hard as any other training camp before.?
The first fight matched two of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Throw in some controversy about a glove contract, a little bit of blood, and a whole lot of action.
The second fight gave us more of the same, and the third bout doesn?t look much different.
?As good as the first two fights were, the third fight is going to be the best fight,? says promoter Bob Arum. ?The third fight will be remembered in boxing history forever.?
If the formula works, why mess with it?
The three bouts have another common element. Despite the star power in the ring and the eye-popping pay-per-view buys, none had a world title at stake. Instead, Morales and Pacquiao have exchanged something called the WBC International belt. As much as fans and media clamor for undisputed champions, they?ll jump at the chance to see a brawl with no title at stake.
There?s no world title for the winner, but there?s a world of significance at stake for both fighters. It?s being billed as the Grand Finale. The two fighters will go in different directions after this. Should Pacquiao win, a rematch of one of his other high-profile action fights?Marco Antonio Barrera or Juan Manuel Marquez?will be on tap. A Morales victory might also send him in Barrera?s direction, as he tries to even up the score in what would become a quartet of brawls. Either way, the winner continues to be a factor in the rankings and at the box office.
The loser will face a crossroads more daunting than any he?s seen before. Three times, Erik Morales has used Manny Pacquiao fights to jump-start his career. Should he lose, he?ll first need to decide if his career continues, then find a new way to invigorate it. He?s struggled to make weight in recent fights and may decide to move up to a new division.
Pacquiao, an A-List celebrity in his Philippines home, has often been criticized for letting the nightlife detract from his in-ring performance. Two losses to an older, supposedly shop-worn fighter would cast serious doubts on his ability to maintain focus on the fight game.
?I don?t know yet,? says Pacquiao of his post-Morales plans.
?You know I really don?t know,? says Morales, sounding like Pacquiao yet again. ?Let?s fight on November 18th. Let?s see how I look on November 18th after all this work and then we?ll decide what we need to do.?
Neither fighter wants to look past Saturday?s bout at the potential career devastation a loss would wreak.
Perhaps they?ve seen the end of the promo for the new show.
?What if you had to relive one day over and over again?? asks the Daybreak ad. ?And what if it was the worst day of your life??
