Imagine you just lost the fight of the year. You lost the eleventh round?voted the round of the year?which tipped a razor-thin decision to your opponent. Not just any opponent, mind you, and not just any fight of the year. This was an epic rubber match against your hated rival.
You questioned his sexuality and threw bare-knuckle blows at the pre-fight press conference and refused to shake his hand afterward. After pouring everything into this matchup, your heart is left broken and, if the trainer?s comments between rounds are to be believed, so is your nose.
It?s not all bad news. You?re still ranked number seven in the pound-for-pound list. Of course, that?s one spot below your rival. You?re also in good company after the fight. Arturo Gatti, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Thomas Hearns and Ali did what you?ve done twice. Tyson, Holyfield, Hagler, and your hated opponent have all done it as well. It may have been the fight of the year, but you lost it.
You are Erik Morales.
What do you do now?
Obviously, you should take some time. Let yourself recover from the devastating loss. Take time to heal your body, mind and spirit. Then take a tuneup fight to begin rebuilding your confidence. It goes without saying.
You couldn?t be more wrong. In fact, you?re not Erik Morales any more. The real Erik Morales says, ?I didn?t want to take anyone easy coming back.?
If you were really Erik Morales, you?d be ready to step into the ring less than four months after losing to Marco Antonio Barrera. You?d ask your promoter to find the ?biggest fight out there,? and he?d find you Manny Pacquiao. Your bounce back opponent would be ranked fifth on the pound-for-pound list, two slots above you and one above Barrera. One hundred twelve days after you lost the biggest fight in your career, you will face the man that pounded Barrera into submission.
What should be a tuneup is a step up, and just might end up being your second fight of the year in four months. This isn?t a comeback trail. It?s a death march.
Maybe you should be glad that you?re not Erik Morales.
Most fighters take a longer break and softer foe after a damaging loss. A look at the last forty fights of the year shows that the losers take an average of six months off before fighting again. Throwing out the fighters that retired or fought an immediate rematch after losing, the first opponent back had an average record of 26-4-1. Fighters that went back into the ring within five months made up for the quick return by taking on opponents with a won-loss percentage ninety points lower than the opponents of those that took extra time.
Only four fight of the year losers in the past forty years have taken on bounce-back opponents with more wins than Pacquiao?s 39. Only nine took on opponents with fewer losses than Pacquiao?s two. Only two fighters are on both lists. After losing the Thrilla in Manila to Ali, Joe Frazier took on 41-1 George Foreman. He waited eight months before taking the bout and still lost. After dropping a decision to Paulie Ayala in the 1999 fight of the year, Johnny Tapia beat 42-1 Jorge Julio. He was fighting on seven month?s rest.
Morales? selection of opponents shows supreme confidence in his ability as well as a lack of concern about his well-being, meaning that his scheduling strategy is remarkably similar to the one he uses in the ring.
Morales and Pacquiao are two of the hardest punchers in the sport, and both have an ultra aggressive style that frequently turns boxing matches into slugfests. There shouldn?t be any debates over the meaning of ring generalship in this one. It?s boxing?s equivalent of an NBA game. No defense, and the last one with the ball wins.
“Fight fans are going to see an all-action fight from bell to bell,” said Top Rank?s Bob Arum at the press conference announcing the March 19 matchup. “This is an exciting event, and this is what professional boxing is all about.”
The battle to promote Pacquiao-Morales was almost as eventful as the fight itself promises to be. Pacquiao was originally in negotiations for a February 26 rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. The two fought to a controversial draw last May, when a judge?s error mis-scored the first round. Pacquiao knocked Marquez down three times in the round, but one judge, thinking he was not allowed to score a round 10-6, turned in a 10-7 card. The extra point for Marquez turned a Pacquiao split decision victory into a draw.
Marquez balked at the proposed purse for the bout, and Pacquiao was suddenly looking for another dance partner. Oscar de la Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions suggested a rematch with Barrera, a Golden Boy fighter looking to avenge the eleventh round TKO loss to Pacquiao in November, 2003.
Arum refused to lose out to de la Hoya, who split with Top Rank last year and added Bernard Hopkins to his stable in an attempt to expand Golden Boy?s reach. Arum suggested Morales and quickly closed the deal.
The shuffling of opponents should benefit Pacquiao, who reportedly took a break from training after an early-December victory in, of all things, a tuneup bout. The three week delay in the fight date should help get Pacquiao back into fighting shape. If not, the contracted 130-pound weight gives him an extra four pounds over his usual featherweight division. Pacquiao and trainer Freddy Roach think they match up better with ?El Terrible,? saying that Morales will stand and trade, whereas the other potential opponents are harder to engage.
Morales seems to be driven by his hatred of Barrera, hoping that an action fight with Pacquiao will wipe out the memory of his trilogy with his arch-rival. ?After this fight, everyone is going to wonder who Barrera is,? he said through an interpreter at the introductory press conference. ?I?m going to take care of my business and forget him.?
Imagine that you?re Erik Morales. You?d do anything to erase the sting of your last loss. Even if it puts you at risk of another loss, another beating. And if you win? Imagine that.
“Without a doubt he’s very strong and he’s probably the strongest fighter I ever faced,” said Morales of Pacquiao. “But I’m probably the strongest fighter he’s ever going to face. So we’ll see who’s the strongest guy out there.”
The imagination runs wild.
