Manny Pacquiao is set to tangle with Mexican journeyman Hector Velasquez in less than two weeks, but make no mistake, Mexican-legend Erik Morales is still number one on Pacman’s hit list.
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach recently said that even though Pacquiao is at his best fighting as a featherweight (126 pounds), Pacman is willing to go the extra mile and stay in the superfeatherweight (130lb) division because of one nagging compulsion: Pacquiao is dying to avenge his March 2004 unanimous-decision loss to Morales.
“Manny and I have talked about it. We know 126 is probably his best fighting weight. And we can go back down to that weight, because Manny makes it easily,” Roach told FightBeat.com. “But he wants Morales. So we’re going to stay at 130.”
Roach however said that should Morales – who will fight at 135lb in his duel with former-Olympian Zahir Raheem – opt to move up to lightweight for good, Pacquaio will no longer chase the Mexican legend at that level.
“I do know 130 is as high as we’ll go,” Roach said.
Speculation has it that Morales will move back to the 130lb division after the Raheem bout to take on Pacquiao. Roach says that when fighting at 126lb, Pacquiao is downright devastating.
“He fought a perfect fight against Barrera” said Roach, recalling Pacquiao’s spectacular 11-round demolition job of Barrera when they tussled in a featherweight bout on November 2003. “He fought the best guy in the world that night, and he beat him pretty soundly.”
And while Team Pacquiao’s sights are firmly set on Morales, Roach nevertheless said that fighting Velasquez is a necessary preparatory fight before a Pacquiao-Morales rematch, which will likely take place on March 2006.
“This tune-up fight is good because it gets Manny back in the gym, gets him back in the mode of training for a big fight, and we don’t have to rush into anything. Right after this fight, though, we’ll take a week off, and then we’ll get right back into the Morales mode,” Roach said,
“Hector Velazquez has a style similar to Erik Morales. Of course, he’s not of the same caliber. But he’s somebody we definitely can’t take lightly. We’re not going to walk over this guy. So we’re really training hard for this fight. We know there’s no rematch with Erik without a win over Velazquez.”
