A top official of the World Boxing Organization who is based in the United States but a frequent traveller to Asia has predicted that Manny Pacquiao will stop Morales cold in the early rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder this Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I am in Mexico at this moment and will be traveling to Las Vegas to see Manny?s fight on the 19th, anyway Manny will win by knockout on the early rounds. I am rooting for Manny to take care of business early. It should be a really good fight,” said Leon Panoncillo, the WBO Asia-Pacific chairman who is based in Hawaii.
Panoncillo, the man credited for WBO Asia-Pacific’s meteoric rise in Asia, is quite familiar with both Pacquiao and Morales, having watched them fight against separate opponents in the past.
Meanwhile, Panoncillo has also informed this writer that he has heavily recommended Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista to the ratings committe of the WBO in Puerto Rico, thus resulting in the very high rankings received by the Cebu-based fighter in the latest rankings.
The latest WBO ranking puts the 18-year-old Bautista as no. 4 among the world’s bantamweights, making him “arguably the youngest fighter today to occupy such a lofty ranking.”
The Candijay, Bohol-raised Bautista, touted as an heir apparent to Manny Pacquiao and holder of the WBO Asia Pacific diadem, is being groomed to become Cebu’s next world boxing champion.
The young champion is currently in the United States with manager Tony Aldeguer and promoter Sammy “Don King” Gello-ani to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales war following his March 11 destruction of Aree Phosuwangym in Hawaii.
