When Filipino bruiser Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2) faces Erik Morales (47-2-0) this Saturday in Las Vegas, a great deal will be at stake. Not only is he fighting his impressive eighth world champion (4-2-1), Manny is looking to go 2-0 against ferocious, Hall of Fame Mexicans (namely Barrera and Morales), at a whopping eighteen pounds above his original fighting weight.
Moving up has yet to be a worry for the razor sharp southpaw, in fact, it has brought many rewards. After winning the WBC Flyweight Title from Chartchai Sasakul in 1998, Manny experienced weight-making difficulties and frequently fought several pounds above the division limit (112 pounds) between championship fights. Just under a year later he lost his title on the scales, and the resulting stoppage defeat to Medgoen Singsurat convinced him to take a three division leap to land with the super bantamweights.
Moving up in divisions is always difficult among smaller fighters. Two or three pounds difference can ultimately decide what appear to be evenly matched fights, and can swing contests in both obvious and subtle ways. This is why 122-pound champion Wilfredo Gomez outgunned Carlos Zarate in 1978, and accounts for another bantamweight great Lupe Pintor fade against the Puerto Rican four years later.
This didn?t stop Manny from competing ten pounds above his last World Title victory, and after several WBC International victories he shot for the legitimate IBF version, held by Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. The South African was hardly a Wilfredo Gomez, but was a respected champion with a solid five defences behind him. A late substitute, Pacquiao dropped his man three times before the referee stopped the carnage.
After this, his American debut, Manny hooked up with the respected Freddie Roach. A student of the great Eddie Futch, Roach versed the raw but powerful Manny in educated pressure, leading him to improve his footwork, head movement and combinations.
Following a successful four defences, including a technical draw with tough Agapito Sanchez, Manny jumped up to feather this time to face the great Marco Antonio Barrera. Once considered the heir to Wilfredo Gomez as an outstanding super bantamweight champion, Barrera went one better as a featherweight after narrowly decisioning Erik Morales and outclassing the favoured Naseem Hamed.
Barrera, who had dropped the WBC belt won from Morales, was considered the ?People?s Champion?, and had been on sharp recent form, outclassing Johnny Tapia and stopping Kevin Kelley, and promised to be the ultimate test for the former flyweight. In spite of this, underdog Manny showed no respect: he confused Barrera with lateral movement, darted in-and-out of range at will and battered him with combinations. In the eleventh frame, a one-sided bout was halted.
Hugely popular after the win, and endeared by the fans by his all action style, Manny was eager to take on the very best. That honour belonged to WBA and IBF feather king Juan Manuel Marquez, and the two fought to an epic draw last May.
Fighting the first natural feather of his career (Barrera being a natural 122-pounder), Manny dropped his man after only a minute-and-a-half, and used his flushing left hand to force Marquez to revisit the floor twice more, breaking his nose in the process. By the end of the first the Mexican seemed all but finished, but lasted somehow. After his brilliant early form, however, Manny was unable to repeat the success.
When a boxer feels the elation of victory it is difficult to maintain the level of focus to stay in command, and when anchored back into combat it is difficult to adjust. Recent history is littered with such examples, such as light heavy king Dwight Muhammad Qawi?s brutal first round assault on a stunned Eddie Davis and his inability to follow up with the necessary combinations until late; and is why Salvador Sanchez made such a meal out of Wilfredo Gomez after a likewise destructive opening (both fights from 1982).
This, as such, gave Juan Manuel Marquez sufficient breathing space to counter punch carefully back into the fight through the middle-to-late rounds. Victory slipping away, Manny rallied hard in the twelfth to earn a draw.
A rematch seemed natural after the hotly disputed decision (both men feeling they had won), but Marquez didn?t seem overly eager. After both champions ? Manny of the People (and The Ring), Marquez of the WBA and IBF ? beat low key opponents Fahsan 3-K Battery and Orlando Salido to close 2004, the rematch looked good for this year. But Marquez, in a contract dispute with Top Rank and unsatisfied with what he deemed a low purse, pulled out.
In search of yet another major opponent, old foe Barrera seemed a natural. Vowing that he could improve on his original performance, his fight with left-handed Paulie Ayala last year seemed a warm-up for Manny. But after defeating old foe Morales in an upset at super feather, Marco?s promoter Golden Boy were beaten to the punch by Bob Arum, to set up the mouth-watering Pacquiao-Morales, also at 130 pounds, for March 19.
Morales, losing to Barrera by the slimmest of margins, may prove to be Pacquiao?s most dangerous opponent yet. Although one down from his three fight series against Barrera (1-2), ?El Terrible? has beaten every opponent he has ever faced, and has mixed it at a consistently higher level than any active fighter. He has defeated everyone from Paulie Ayala to Daniel Zaragoza, and his power has followed him up in successful bids for World Titles at 122, 126 and 130 pounds.
He?d better hope that Manny Pacquiao?s punch doesn?t come up to 130 pounds as well.
