Erik Morales is known as a warrior, a relentless fighter with no reverse gear, a man with no quit in him. He is all of those, but he is rarely given credit for one other, important quality: he is a smart, cool, composed boxer with better skills and tactical ability than might sometimes be apparent. He displayed those skills last year against Carlos Hernandez, in what was nominally a toe-to-toe war but was in fact a bout which, on closer inspection, Morales dominated by subtly shifting his feet, showing angles, and keeping his opponent off-balance.
He displayed those skills again on Saturday night, dismissing the doubters and, with the exception of a stunningly unnecessary display of admittedly thrilling bravura toward the end, boxing a tremendously smart fight against the dangerous, relentless, Manny Pacquiao. And yet, typical of Morales, he emerged victorious only after yet another tough war that, as usual, had the crowd on its feet roaring its approval and further cemented Morales? near-mythic reputation as one of the greatest and most exciting fighters who has ever lived.
There is an axiom in boxing to which too many pay too little attention: never prejudge the outcome of a fight based on the most recent performances of the two combatants. There has rarely been a more consistent example of that axiom than Erik Morales. Before his first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, he was the overwhelming favorite; after struggling against Barrera, and in his subsequent two outings, there were claims he was maybe prematurely washed up, until he seemingly bested Barrera in the return. He was once again the favorite in the third fight against his Mexican rival, but, having lost a tight decision to a man whom Pacquiao had thoroughly dominated in late 2003, he was the considerable betting underdog against the Filipino on Saturday night.
But that?s where those underrated ring smarts came in. From the very beginning, Morales knew well that the key to containing the all-action aggressiveness of Pacquiao was not to engage in a slugfest, but to slow down the pace, try and keep his opponent at a distance behind a stiff jab, and land short, sharp, hard counters. Pacquiao, meanwhile, sought to attack with fierce combinations in close, taking advantage of his greater hand speed. Both men enjoyed success with their respective strategies, but Morales enjoyed that bit more success on that many more occasions and so emerged with the win.
At the opening bell, each man appeared to display a great deal of respect for the other, and for the first two minutes, the exchanges were mostly jabs and occasional straight rights and lefts. The one pattern that did appear to be emerging was that, at least in the early going, Morales was content to move backward and look for an opportunity to counter his oncoming opponent. Then, suddenly, at the two minute mark, the fight exploded.
Morales went for Pacquiao?s body, and Pacquiao responded with a fierce flurry that backed Morales to the ropes. The moment Pacquiao paused, Morales returned fire, driving the Filipino back across the ring and almost through the ropes, before Pacquiao redoubled his own assault, launching fierce left hooks to Morales? ribcage that had the Mexican almost doubled over. But Morales was himself flurrying again at the end, and it already looked as if the fight would indeed, as many hoped, be a classic.
Morales landed a straight right early in the second, and followed with a three-punch combo that had Pacquiao backing off and beckoning Morales in for more. Morales landed a solid right to the body and another upstairs, and then a strong left/right to the head. A right/left from the southpaw Pacquiao drove Morales to the ropes, but even as they exchanged at the bell, it became clear that Morales planned on being the more controlled fighter.
Even as Morales attempted to keep the action at a distance behind a steady jab, however, Pacquiao opened the third round brightly, on his toes and darting in and out, landing flurries and then moving away from Morales? counters. A one-two from the man from General Santos City landed on Morales? chin, but the Tijuanan slipped many of the follow-up punches in the corner. Pacquiao?s advantage in hand speed was evident, but Morales? punches, though fewer, appeared shorter, crisper, and harder.
In the fourth, it was Pacquiao who was doing much of the boxing on the retreat, moving backward, circling, then suddenly unleashing flurries. Both men were fighting the fight they wanted to at this point, but the bout took a sudden turn in the fifth when, in the middle of a fierce exchange in center ring, a head butt opened a nasty gash over Pacquiao?s right eye. The gash, which referee Joe Cortez incorrectly called as being from a punch, appeared to discombobulate Pacquiao, who staggered from a couple of fierce Morales punches to close the round.
All at once, despite entreaties from Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach to ?calm down?, the Filipino looked confused and distracted, and Morales appeared to take control, winning the next several rounds by slowing down the pace of the fight, picking off Pacquiao with jabs and following up with straight rights and occasional flurries. His overhand right was beginning to land at will, and on several occasions, notably in the seventh and eighth, Pacquiao appeared briefly and slightly wobbled.
The drama was escaping the contest; the headline seemed destined to be a tribute to Morales? cool, calm dominance. But Pacquiao, who had never stopped coming forward, finally hit pay dirt in the ninth, clearly shaking Morales with a mighty left hand, and then again with another one. Morales, his warrior instinct overwhelming his reasoned tactics to this point, responded by firing back and even marching toward his opponent, despite unsteady legs and a presumably foggy head. His return to his corner at the end of that frame was more of a wobble than a walk, but by the tenth, he had re-imposed control, shaking Pacquiao with a hard overhand right and soaking up Pacquiao?s furious flurries.
Still Pacquiao would not be denied, and despite seemingly trailing by several rounds at this point, rallied hard in the championship rounds, swapping fierce combinations with Morales in the eleventh, a close round that could have gone either way as each man rocked the other with his signature punch. And then came Morales? one piece of abandon.
For almost the entire final frame, Morales, who needed only to stand up to win the fight, instead adopted a southpaw stance, leaving the right side of his face open to Pacquiao?s screaming lefts, and the Filipino took advantage, slamming those lefts repeatedly into his opponent?s head. Morales, looking ragged, refused to switch back to orthodox stance, determined to show he could out-southpaw the southpaw; he could not have better displayed his cojones if he had cut them off and paraded them on a platter around the MGM Grand Garden Arena, but after boxing so intelligently for eleven rounds, he came perilously close to throwing all that good work away.
Alas for Pacquiao, it was not enough; at that stage, he needed a knockout (or at least two knockdowns) to win, and Morales would not be felled. All three judges?Paul Smith, Dave Moretti, and Chuck Giampa?scored the fight seven rounds to five, 115-113, for Erik Morales, the same as TigerBoxing. With the victory, Morales moves to 48-2, with 34 KOs; Pacquiao drops to 39-3-2 (30). Both men remain entrants in the pound-for-pound top ten.
The co-main event saw an all-out war between Jorge Arce and Hussein Hussein in a WBC flyweight eliminator. Arce nearly stopped Hussein in the first frame following a thunderous left hook; Hussein came back into the bout before Arce began to pull away, pounding Hussein with hard punches. Hussein appeared to gain a second wind around round seven, but then Arce (39-3-1, 29 KOs) found his groove again, finally dropping Hussein (26-2, 20 KOs) in round ten and prompting Hussein?s trainer Jeff Fenech to rescue his man from further punishment.
Also on the undercard: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. remained unbeaten with a three-round battering of Ryan Maroldo. Chavez is now 17-0, with 12 KOs; Maroldo, who was taking a fearful beating when referee Tony Gibson stepped in, sports the prototypical journeyman record of 19-16-1 (5).
Martin Castillo (28-1, 16 KOs) retained his WBA 115 lb. title with a powerful, aggressive, dominating unanimous decision against former 112 lb. belt holder Eric Morel (35-2, 18 KOs). Scores were 119-109 across the board.
