LAS VEGAS?There is no world title on the line when Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao meet in the ring for the third time in Las Vegas on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila).
But such is the popularity of both men that organizers say it is on course to have one of the five highest attendance in Vegas fight history.
Promoter Bob Arum says he is poised to sell all 17,000 seats at the Thomas & Mack Arena, and 370 media representatives will be in attendance?the greatest number ever for a bout at that venue.
Pacquiao, the former flyweight and super bantamweight world champion, whose contest with Morales will be at the super featherweight limit of 130 pounds, is hugely popular in his native Philippines.
In addition to being the country?s most successful athlete, he is a best-selling recording artist, an action movie star and a potential politician.
Morales, in contrast, does nothing but box, fighting with a focused aggression that has earned him fans around the world. It has also brought him tremendous success.
He won the World Boxing Council super bantamweight championship in 1997, and defended it nine times, and has held WBC titles at featherweight and super featherweight.
Morales won the first contest between the two, a unanimous points victory in March 2005. Pacquiao won the rematch in January this year, coming from behind to stop a tiring Morales in the 10th round of a hard-fought and enthralling contest.
The Mexican has suffered just four defeats in 52 fights, but all of them have been since 2002, and three have come in his last four bouts. That has led to some suggestions that his numerous ring wars have taken their toll and that, at age 30, his remarkable career may be nearing an end.
Morales, naturally, disputes that assertion.
?It?s very motivating for me to get back to the level I?m accustomed to,? Morales told reporters on Thursday. ?I have two motivations: The people who want me to win, and the people who don?t want me to win.?
Only defeat since ?99
Pacquiao?s only defeat since 1999 was the first fight with Morales. He lost twice before that, earlier in his career when struggling to make the flyweight limit of 112 pounds.
Like Morales, he has become a box-office attraction not just for his accomplishments but the way he fights, frequently eschewing defense in favor of a two-fisted assault.
However, the momentum in the second bout changed in Pacquiao?s favor when he began varying his attack, and he says that he has been concentrating on developing new techniques for Saturday?s bout.
Whatever else happens, both fighters insist their bout will be a crowd-pleaser.
?What I plan to do, what I always plan to do, is make a good fight, to please not only the Filipino people, but all the people who love boxing,? Pacquiao said.
Morales hopes a stronger will and increased stamina will be the remedy for his run of poor outings in the boxing ring.
?I will not run out of gas,? Morales said of the rubber match.
?I beat him once at 130 lb remember?? said Morales. ?In the second fight sure he hurt me, but it wasn?t so much because he hurt me so bad but more because my body was worn down.
?That problem is solved. Pacquiao needs to know that I am certain that what happened during the second fight will not happen this time.?
Morales will have his father, Jose, back in his corner for Saturday?s non-world title fight after working with Jose Luis Lopez in the last fight.
?I know his (Pacquiao) weaknesses, I know his strengths,? Morales said. ?He has no defense, he has no technique, he hasn?t changed.
?Even when I was tired during the later rounds in the second fight, I was able to land my punches. He is the same fighter he has always been.?
The 30-year-old Morales has had trouble getting to the 130-pound weight limit. AFP, Inquirer wires
