The various controversies surrounding the Manny Pacquiao-Erik ?El Terrible? Morales? epic battle last March 19 have been sucked dry by the media and although some journalists would still wish to peddle their own lines and get at men they regard as adversaries for one reason or another, we believe it?s time to put a stop at least to this series.
We have provided you our insights into what happened based on the hard facts available to us since we were there in Los Angeles and Las Vegas much of the way.
We?ve spoken to many people, including trainer Freddie Roach and Pacquiao himself about the gloves. Roach, who at times made a fuss about the gloves just as many times, said ?it didn?t matter? or it was ?no big deal? and that Pacquiao and Morales were warriors, who would have fought bare-fisted if necessary.
Pacquiao said he didn?t care and prior to the fight and said he would knock out Morales no matter what gloves he wore. It didn?t happen and unfortunately the issue of the gloves was raised once again, making it look so much like an excuse when warriors normally don?t make excuses and salute a warrior who beats them.
The PPV issue has been flogged to death.
Unfortunately, up to this writing, we haven?t been able to hear what lead promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has to say although Mark Taffet of HBO TVKO was kind enough to clear things up in terms of what he knew. We know for a fact that Pacquiao signed to fight Morales for $1.75 million and there was no mention at all of PPV or any upside percentage. Of course, this does not mean that Pacquiao?s new management team shouldn?t have renegotiated for inclusion of a pay-per-view upside, although with such a huge purse of $1.75 million for Pacquiao, it may have been difficult.
However, it was worth the effort
and obviously no effort was made. Or if Shelly Finkel?s lawyers did, they said nothing about it.
Pacquiao did say he had signed the contract with Finkel?s team one day after his management contract with Marty Elorde expired because they told him he would earn around $4 million from the PPV.
Seemed very much like an inducement. Up to now, despite talks of legal action, nothing has apparently happened.
If Finkel?s group decides to file a case, the view is they would have to go after Arum since Taffet made it very clear the PPV deal was with Arum and Top Rank. Now that should be interesting especially since Roach claimed he did the deal with Arum, who promised Pacquiao would get 40 percent of the upside.
Interesting numbers, because Taffet himself, the guru of PPV, never expected the 350,000 buys since Pacquiao had never done a PPV fight before while Morales had done 10 and Filipinos were an unknown quantity in the market, unlike the Hispanics.
Pacquiao looked drained and over-trained with former Filipino World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion Rene Barrientos claiming 163 rounds of sparring was way too much. Pacquiao did 106 in preparation for the fight against Marco Antonio Barrera and annihilated him in 11 rounds, although Barrera continues to claim he had many distractions before the fight and was not himself that night.
Renowned cutman Lenny de Jesus felt the same way even as Pacquiao himself had to intercede to keep him in the team and not have him replaced by a $1,000 cutman from Golden Boy Promotions who handle Barrera.
De Jesus complained his efforts to treat the cut Pacquiao suffered through an accidental head-butt were stymied by Roach, who was ?shaking all over? in the corner, not knowing what to do when Pacquiao was cut.
There was chaos and you could see that at ringside. It was in stark contrast to the cool, calm and collected corner of Morales. Tactically, Morales fought the superior fight while Pacquiao?s handlers were all talk.
While Morales made sacrifices and trained in seclusion in the refreshing mountain air of Otomi with only a handful of people close to him, Pacquiao trained at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, which resembled a circus and a marketplace with scores of newfound hangers-on making fast bucks selling Pacquiao T-shirts and getting him to sign them and pose for pictures with an endless stream of fans.
Pacquiao drove around LA in a Lincoln Navigator, stayed in a upscale apartment with a number of people crowding the place and disturbing him. In Las Vegas, there were times when 10 people were packed into a room. It was a travesty and Pacquiao has slowly begun to realize the mistakes that were made, including staying up late on the eve of the fight worrying about tickets for friends and politicians, some of whom flew to Las Vegas at Pacquiao?s expense.
Now, according to an ardent supporter Pedro Fernandez, the hard-hitting journalist of Ring Talk, Pacquiao has bloated and unless he gets a hold of himself in a hurry, he won?t beat the Mexicans ? Barrera, Morales or Juan Manuel Marquez. That would be a crying shame because Pacquiao has the talent to get the job done but he won?t be able to achieve his goals if he continues to spend long hours and lots of money in the cockpits and pool halls, where more leeches abound.
