BEVERLY HILLS, CA.– A large gathering of media congregated at the lavish Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA., on Tuesday, for the Erik Morales-Manny Pacquiao II Press Conference.
Promoters’ Bob Arum, of Top Rank Inc., and Gary Shaw, of Gary Shaw Productions welcomed members of the media to announce the rematch of Erik “Terrible” Morales and Manny “The Destroyer” Pacquiao, which is being dubbed, “The Battle.”
“This is going to be a great fight. You do not want to miss this one,” Arum said. “An exciting undercard will be announced next week.”
Arum, who was promoting the Rahman vs. Klitshcko Heavyweight Title bout before Klitshcko’s surprising retirement last week, says he plans first to accommodate the fighters who were suppose to participate on that card, before adding to the undercard. Both Antonio Margarito and Martin Castillo were scheduled to defend there titles on last weeks card, and are more than likely to participate on this card.
Arum then took some time to thank Hotel Magnate Steve Wynn, whose Wynn Las Vegas Resort will host the fight, before turning and thanking his “good friend” Gary Shaw, for his professionalism, saying. “You might not have believed we were good friends, especially if you were there for the last press conference,” Arum said with a smile, referring to the Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales post fight press conference, where both promoters verbally attacked one another.
Shaw, who took over as Pacquiao’s Promoter after a falling out between Pacquiao and his former Promoter, Murad Muhammad, says he plans on monitoring the camp a little more closely this time around, and intends on putting an end to the circus atmosphere that has hounded Pacquiao in the past.
“I’m going to be there to make sure that there are not eight hundred of his fans sleeping in his room,” Shaw said jokingly. “I could take Murad’s old room.”
Although Pacquiao had suffered defeats early in his career, most of the fans here in America were only familiar with the untouchable Pacquiao; the Pacquiao who knocked-out Marco Antonio Barrera, and sent undisputed Featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez to the canvas three times in the first round.
The soon-to-be 27 year-old draws a large audience no matter where he goes, but the “super star” status that use to apply only to his life in the Philippines, has now crossed over the Pacific, literally following him wherever he goes, which has forced trainer Freddie Roach to make a big change in where Pacquiao will train. Roach intends on traveling to the Philippines for the beginning of camp, and three weeks later he will again travel to the US, possibly to the Central Boxing Club in Phoenix, AZ., where they will probably train for the remainder of camp.
“As much as it hurts Manny, it’s something that needs to be done,” said Roach. “His real fans, the ones who truly care about him, will understand.”
Pacquiao (40-3-2, 32KO’s), along with his renowned trainer, believe they can beat Morales this time around.
“We underestimated Morales the last time,” said Roach. “He had just lost to Barrera, Manny had knocked Barrera out … we just underestimated him.”
Roach then turned to Morales and asked for forgiveness, saying, “For that, we apologize, Erik. It will not happen again.”
During their first fight, Erik was confident enough to give away the final round by switching to southpaw for the final three minutes. That move almost proved disastrous; as Pacquiao landed a devastating left-hand that would have crumbled the average man. But Morales’s performance was better than average on that night. He jabbed, he danced, he brawled, and he even gambled on occasion. It was far from a flawless performance, but it was more than enough to win the fight.
Even though Morales walked away with the decision, at this point, he is still the underdog, and has more to prove than does Pacquiao.
Morales (48-3, 34KO’s) has been criticized for lacking dedication, which has resulted in several sub-par performances against questionable opposition.
“I’m not going to make excuses for what happened in my last fight, that’s not why I’m here,” Morales said. “And I resent my opponents camp making comments that I was just going in for a payday. I have never entered the boxing ring for the money – I do it for my family!”
Morales believes there is a lot more at stake this time around, and even asked the Pacquiao camp not to offer any excuses about padded boxing gloves or fan distractions.
“Just go out there and fight,” he said. “You wanted Reyes gloves, we’ll use Reyes … the truth is, I don’t care what gloves we use … I’ll fight you without gloves if that’s what you want.”
“The Battle” Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao II will be televised LIVE on HBO Pay-Per-View from the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on January 21, 2006. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday November 16, 2006.
