IT WAS one of those rarities where you hate either fighter to lose a fight.
But close to Saturday midnight in Las Vegas, Nevada, many Filipino boxing fans all over, including this writer, had their shoulder sag in disbelief.
They had just witnessed their ring idol Manny Pacquiao lose a brutal but exciting 12-round bout with Mexican warrior Erik Morales.
Bloodied by an unintentional head butt that was ruled a punch in the fifth round, Manny gallantly fought in spurts every time he is hurt by the big right hands of Morales.
Morales should have been deducted a point for the unintentional head butt.
But it would not have altered the decision.
Manny lost the fight by two points on all scorecards.
It was a clean fight nonetheless with Morales more methodical and Pacquiao landing combinations in spurts.
He poured it all in the twelfth round, rocking Morales several times, but it was not enough to get the nod of the three judges who all scored 115-113 in favor of Morales.
After the fight, Manny said he did his best and believed he did enough to win the highly hyped bout.
Respect
In the early rounds, it was obvious Manny had big respect of Morales’ punching power.
Manny did not show the kind of aggressiveness he displayed in demolishing two-time conqueror of Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, although in the first round he hit Morales with a big right and left combination after he got tagged by a right straight from the Mexican.
At the opening round, it was obvious that Team Pacquiao’s strategy was to soften up Morales.
Many concentrated on digging up some left hooks to the side of Morales.
Manny paid the price in the following rounds as he repeatedly got tagged by stiff jabs and uppercuts by Morales.
Until he got a nasty cut over his right eyebrow when their heads clashed in the middle of the ring, Manny was following that strategy.
And the bout was still pretty even.
He would later admit in a post fight interview that he was bothered by the cut, unable to see due to blood flowing on his right eye.
Turning point
That proved to the turning point of the bout as Morales effectively boxed throughout the bout.
To his credit Manny took all Morales’s best shots and did not go down as some other lesser fighter would have.
From round seven on wards, the two would exchange heavy blows in the middle of the ring at the closing seconds of each round.
Morales was more effective with his bigger punches.
Pacquaio would land several combinations but Morales seemed not bothered by the vaunted lefts of the Filipino boxing idol.
After the fight, Manny’s trainer Freddie Roach said of Manny’s punching power was lessened by the gloves that were used in the bout.
Roach blamed promoter Muhammad Murad for failing to protect Manny’s interest by agreeing to use Morales’ preferred Winning brand of boxing mitts instead of the Japan-made Cleto Reyes gloves usually donned by the Filipino boxing icon.
Anti-climactic
In every home with cable connection, fight fans of Manny gathered as early as 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
There were eager to see their idol take a shot at boxing glory.
By 2:00 p.m., however, many started to leave their neighbor’s house after they heard through the local radio here that Manny just lost a close 12 round unanimous decision.
What would have been an exciting bout to watch on cable television was spoiled by both the local radio stations here and the fight carrier, Solar Sports and RPN 9.
Solar sports did not begin beaming its feeds of the Morales-Pacquiao bout until after an hour the decision was announced over the radio.
When ABS-CBN’s Mervic Kapunan-Abrasada went to the house of Pacquiao in Labangal, there were only a handful of Manny’s relatives watching the fifth round of the fight.
She later told this writer that Manny’s mother had to be rushed to the St. Elizabeth Hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties when it was announced that Manny was cut on the eyebrow.
Lawyer Tom Falgui, who graciously hosted a lunch for us several media men, said he no longer had the appetite to watch the bout an hour even before it was shown on television because a relative watching the bout live on HBO already told him of the outcome.
Quo vadis
Commentators covering the bout for HBO agreed the decision was fair enough.
They however were still all praises for the courage and gallantry the Filipino boxing idol demonstrated throughout the 12 exciting rounds.
Morales was simply at his best coming off from a close defeat from the hands of Barrera.
Morales executed a well-planned strategy by keeping Pacquaio at bay with his left jabs.
He shook Manny several times with big uppercuts and right hands but Manny just kept coming back.
Manny later told Solar Sports’ Chino Trinidad that he would still be around and would ask for a rematch with Morales.
Will Morales oblige?
There is no doubt in Morales’ mind that he had just shown to Barrera that he is still the man to beat in the junior lightweight division.
The two, Morales and Barrera, have bad blood among them.
But Barrera may not be that eager to give Morales another shot as the former is scheduled to defend his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association titles against South Africa’s Mzonke Fana on April 9 in El Paso, Texas.
For Manny, it is time to retool himself after that bitter defeat.
Even though he lost the fight, Manny’s bankability has not diminished with the way he stood up against Morales, a sure entrant to the Hall of Fame of boxing.
In six months, Manny should be ready to fight again and who knows Barrera might be obliged to have a rematch with him.
