Manny Pacquiao need not fret about a supposed inclination of Ring Magazine to an Eric Morales victory on Jan. 22.
No less than the magazine’s kingpin, Nigel Collins, has personally prophesied a Pacquiao triumph when Filipino idol meets the Mexican icon in their 12-round superfeatherweight bout at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“The preview picks Morales, but that is the opinion of Eric Raskin who wrote the preview,” revealed Collins in an email to Bulletin.
Collins was referring to Raskin’s latest article that was published in their magazine which analyzed why Morales will repeat over Pacquiao.
In the article, Raskin said Morales’ competent skills will mean Pacquiao will be in for an uphill battle that will eventually result into another decision breakdown for the Filipino fighter.
The 29-year-old Morales scored a close but deserving 12-round verdict over Pacquiao in their classic first encounter March of last year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Raskin is the managing editor of The Ring while Collins functions as editor-in-chief.
“Personally, I’m not so sure that Morales will prevail. I think Manny has a very good chance of winning if he has figured out a way to handle Morales’ left jab,” added Collins.
In their initial encounter, Morales connected 96 out of 303 jabs thrown for a decent 32% connect percentage while Pacquiao was an atrocious 10% jab executor with his 34 of 349 punch stats.
Collins said Pacquiao has a much better chance of winning this bout should he execute a more tactical fight and not rely solely on his devil-may-care fighting style.
“I think the Zahir Raheem fight showed how vulnerable Morales is to movement. If Manny can use his legs to dart in, score, and then get out, he can win,” added Collins.
Collins was a Philippine visitor early last year as he personally conferred the Ring Magazine Featherweight championship belt to Pacquiao soon after the Filipino boxer pulverized another Mexican hero Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003.
Pacquiao was the acknowledged 126-lb champion of the prestigious magazine but later relinquished the title to campaign in the tough 130-lb division.
