FILIPINO ring idol Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao believes that he is now more focused in his coming rematch with Mexican Erik “El Terrible” Morales because, unlike in their first encounter, there are practically no distractions to worry about this time.
Pacquiao, who will face Morales for a return bout on Jan. 21 (Jan. 22 in Manila) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in a fight dubbed as “The Battle,” said he is confident that he will win because of “stable management” and a “brand of gloves” he is comfortable with.
In an article written by Norm Frauenheim that appeared in The Arizona Republic yesterday, Pacquiao was quoted as saying that “There are now none of the distractions from the last fight over rooms, tickets and gloves. I can (now) train in peace, knowing my team is looking out for me.”
Pacquiao trains at the Los Angeles Wild Card gym owned by his trainer Freddie Roach. The Filipino ring idol is under a new management, led by Shelly Finkel and Gary Shaw. He has also dumped the Winning brand of gloves he used in the first fight in favor of the Cleto Reyes, a Mexican brand favored by power punchers.
Roach described the Winning brand as “pillows.”
But in the same article, Morales branded Pacquiao’s pronouncements as “head games.”
Observers, though, have cautioned Pacquiao to avoid another headbutt in the coming fight since this may again affect the outcome of the match. In their first match, Pacquiao suffered a bad cut above one eye as a result of a headbutt, which the Mexican’s corner claimed later as a legitimate punch.
The blood oozing from the cut obscured Pacquiao’s vision in the succeeding rounds and was considered a major reason why Pacquiao eventually lost the fight.
Pacquiao will be coming to the fight an 8-10 underdog against Morales, five days before the much-anticipated fight. He was a 7-5 pick when the fight was announced last November 2005, but oddmakers have changed their prediction based on the pronouncements coming from both camps.
Morales reportedly trains at a high-altitude camp somewhere in Mexico in preparation for the fight and appeared to be more focused than his last fight against Zahir Raheem in October last year. Pacquiao, on the other hand, won his last fight against Mexican Hector Velazquez in the same card.
