What once looked to be two very significant rematches morphed into a single, potentially bigger pay-per-view event. Fight fans seldom can count themselves so lucky.
Tonight’s (tomorrow morning Taiwan time) junior lightweight pairing of Mexico’s Erik Morales (47-2, 34 KOs) and the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2, 30 KOs), at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is the quintessential “fight fan’s fight,” a matchup of hard-punching, exciting little guys. It promises as much or more bang for the buck as each man provided in their most important outings of 2004 – the rubber match between Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera last November 27 and the action-packed draw between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on May 8.
Barrera-Morales III, won by Barrera on a majority decision, was voted 2004’s Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, and Pacquiao-Marquez, in which Marquez neutralized three first-round knockdowns with a late rally, was a finalist for the designation.
So how do you top barnburners like those? Maybe by taking one combatant from column A and putting him in with another from column B.
If everything had gone according to plan, Morales would have moved on to a fourth meeting with fellow Mexican Barrera (59-4, 41 KOs) in what has become boxing’s most bitter intramural rivalry. Pacquiao would have swapped punches again with Marquez (43-2-1, 33 KOs), to provide answers to any lingering questions held over from their first meeting.
But negotiations broke down in each instance, so Pacquiao, who already has an emphatic points victory over Barrera on his resume, decided to move up from featherweight to try his hand against Morales. No world title is involved, but what the heck, who needs one?
“I’m excited to fight Erik Morales because he’s one of the greatest fighters in the world,” said Pacquiao, who also no doubt is pleased to receive a purse of US$1.75 million, the largest payday ever for a Filipino boxer and nearly twice the US$900,000 he was expected to make against Marquez.
Asked if there would be another installment in his blood feud with Barrera, Morales said: “I don’t know. That’s way in the future. All I know is that there’s going to be a Morales-Pacquiao I, and it’s going to be just as enjoyable as any fight you’ll ever see.”
