A rubber match is a tiebreaker. The reason it is referenced as rubber is partly because of its flexibility in determining a series. After two tough fights, a third match can easily sway the trilogy based solely upon its own outcome. The fighters strap on the gloves and enter the ring with the dead set knowledge that at the end of the night, one of them will be known to the boxing world as the better fighter.
The most famous trilogies in recent memory include Arturo Gatti against Micky Ward and Evander Holyfield against Riddick Bowe. Not far behind those two three fight showdowns is the set of fights that took place between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales.
Morales and Pacquiao had two classic gun fights in 2005 and in early 2006. In the first fight, Morales got off earlier and harder throughout most of the exchanges features in the bout. His consistent work output and high impact left Pacquiao at the short end of a unanimous decision, in spit of the fact that the Filipino Pacquiao was able to tee off and stumble Morales badly in the final round of the first fight as the Mexican made the bizarre decision to turn southpaw. Almost a year later, in January of 2006, Pacquiao exacted revenge who was at the time his greatest rival. Increasing the pace to a screaming roar early on, Pacquiao took rounds with hard, wild shots. As the fight progressed, Morales appeared to have his head and body snapped backward and around the ring more and more. There were two times early in the fight when he may have survived knockdowns by using the ropes and the referee to avoid stumbling to the ground.
Morales, who had never before hit the mat in a fight, stayed on his feet late into the fight and continued to trade leather with Pacquiao until he was finally hurt badly enough to cover up near the ropes in round ten. As Morales desperately avoided the incoming onslaught, Pacquiao cocked his arm and delivered an impact blow, a short left hook that put Morales down. As he climbed to his feet, Morales carried a look that let the world audience know that the fight was nearing a close. Pacquiao jumped on Morales immediately after he returned to his feet and finished the job for good.
After that fight, the two men were all but destined to meet again in one last fight to make a trilogy. Pacquiao, 42-3, 33 KO?s, took a difficult tune up fight against Oscar Larios prior to the bout, a twelve round unanimous decision victory in July of 2006 at the Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines. Morales, 48-4, 34 KO?s, trained straight through and took no warm ups before stepping back into the ring with Pacquiao.
This time around, Pacquiao was the heavy favorite entering the fight. Many, including trainer Freddie Roach, had blamed several elements that were outside of the fighter?s control for his loss in the first fight of the series. One factor that contributed to his underperformance was that Pacquiao did not wear his preferred gloves in the first fight after he was signed up to wear a different set by his own promoter.
However, after the second fight, it became clear to most fans that Pacquiao had become the superior fighter after he wore Morales down and knocked him out late in the fight. The big question that remained was whether or not Morales had the heart to participate in one more slugfest and whether he had enough power to come up with the victory.
Morales had trouble making weight through much of his career, but he actually was able to stand in rather easily in this particular bout. That ability may have had something to do with his long and flexible training period or it might have been related to his top conditioning.
As both men entered the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 18, 2006, the crowd erupted in an electric and historical frenzy. Most fans on hand had come for Pacquiao, a sharp contrast from the pro Morales crowd featured in the first fight and the evenly split crowd that represented both fighters in the rematch. It was almost as if the fans knew that it was Pacquiao?s night to an extent that far surpassed that of the odds makers.
The fight was featured on HBO Pay Per View and the fans got their money?s worth leading up to the bout. The under card featured several competitive fights, including Ricardo Torres? twelve round split decision victory in a close fight over Michael Arnaoutis and majority draw between Brian Viloria and Omar Nino Ramirez in the second meeting of the two. Now headed into the main event, there was an explosion of noise. Morales and Pacquiao both entered the ring all business and stood across from one another with a look in their eyes that made it abundantly clear to all eye watching that this was the making of an all or nothing, go for broke proposition for both men.
It was clear from the get go that Morales was out-gunned, as Pacquiao ripped the Mexican fighter with hard shots coming from both hands at all angles. Pacquiao landed rights hands, straight lefts, upper cuts and shots to the body at will while Morales could only occasionally find room to counter over the course of the first round. As if the hand speed disadvantage was not enough for Morales to overcome, his feet also looked far slower than Pacquiao as he plodded slowly around the ring and was hit with every punch possible.
As a final stylistic shortcoming for Morales, it suddenly became clear that his hand positioning was tailor made for Pacquiao?s preferred punches. Morales was good at keeping his hands up, but often held them to the sides of his head in order to protect against the hook rather than in front of his face so he could prevent the straight left hands and stiff right jabs from heading down the pipe. In the second round, Pacquiao threw his right hand relentlessly yet again, punishing Morales for almost a minute before Morales finally found the will and the way to push him off and land a hard right hand. That shot pushed Pacquiao into the ropes but he returned fire immediately after bouncing off of them. After another minute, the Filipino sensation clubbed his opponents with yet another flurry and put Morales on the defensive for almost the entire remainder of the round. With under a minute to go, he knocked Morales to the mat, leaning him against the ropes with a shot straight to the chops.
Morales rose at the count of four but looked almost as if he would fall over as he attempted to regain his balance. The round closed with one last big flurry, Pacquiao again getting the better of the exchange.
Pacquiao continued his downpour in the third round and rocked Morales backwards, only to eat two right crosses in direct return fire from the Mexican. However, those shots were Morales? last stand. After shaking off the punches, Pacquiao unleashed a hellacious flurry and sent Morales to the floor halfway through the round with punch after punch of pure power.
Morales rose at the count of seven, determined to make one last push in an effort to stave off the inevitable. He swung back and landed two good shots fro every eight from Pacquiao, who was now mixing in mostly straight punches with occasional right hooks as he dominated the fight. It was a concrete left hand followed by two more of the same that finally put Morales down for good.
As Morales rolled over to his bottom and sat, staring straight ahead, his corner pleaded with him to rise. In a now famous image, he shook his head in a way that suggested he had taken far too much punishment to continue the fight. “I was looking at my corner and they were urging me on to get up. But I said, ?no, it is to no avail,'” Morales explained later. “There are times you need to know when you are beaten and I think I was a beaten man tonight.”
Pacquiao stated the obvious after the fight. “I believe I am faster than him and that I am quicker than him. I think that I am stronger than him. I think he felt my power,” said Pacquiao with a great smile. ?He doesn’t respect my right hook, so he was surprised by right hook. That was my advantage over him.”
Morales considered retiring after the bout, but decided to keep fighting and proved that he was still a legitimate threat by boxing WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz to a razor thin unanimous decision loss in a fight many thought he won. After the loss against Diaz, Morales retired for good, putting an end to a career of which no one would have to be ashamed.
As for Pacquiao, he has continued to unleash dynamite on all that have stood in his path. After destroying the formerly undefeated Jorge Solis in a tune up this past April, Pacquiao recently closed business with an old foe in Marco Antonio Barrera by scoring a clear cut unanimous decision in twelve rounds in October of 2006. Pacquiao is now likely slated for the biggest match that can be made at Super Featherweight, a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez and Pacquiao fought to a draw in 2004 and now look to rumble for the Ring Magazine Super Featherweight Championship and a massive amount of credit in the Pound for Pound rankings.
