LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao has no problems with gloves this time. Ditto with hotel suites, taxes, promoters, tickets, hangers-on and fans.
He’s got a cut man he believes won’t allow the bleeding that went on in his first fight with Erik Morales. And he’s got a trainer who is trying his best to keep Pacquiao from getting hit too much.
Simply put, there are no excuses going into the rematch Saturday night of his brawling loss to Morales 10 months ago.
“If we don’t win this fight, it’s just because we can’t,” said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. “Everything has been taken care of.”
That wasn’t the case last March when the Filipino national hero met one of the greatest Mexican champions ever in a 130-pound slugfest that ended with Pacquiao bloodied and beaten in a close but unanimous decision.
Pacquiao went into the fight feuding with his former promoter, afraid he was going to have to pay a large settlement on back taxes and burdened by having to hold up the hopes of his countrymen on his slight shoulders.
When Morales opened a deep cut over his right eye in the fifth round, Pacquiao’s problems worsened.
“Every time Erik moved to his right, I couldn’t see him,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao (40-3-2, 32 knockouts) fought gamely and came on at the end of the fight but it wasn’t enough to stop Morales from winning a decision in a fight where there was no title at stake but plenty of national pride on both sides.
The two meet in the rematch at the MGM Grand hotel-casino in a fight that figures to be just as action-packed as the first.
“All I can tell you is I am looking forward to give the people a great show,” Morales said. “You know, give them something to scream about, something they will enjoy, something that they will remember for a long time.”
Morales is coming off an upset loss to Zahir Raheem in September on a fight card that was supposed to set up both fighters for their rematch. Pacquiao won his fight by knockout, then watched as Morales lost for just the third time in his long career.
It was the first fight for Morales (48-3, 34 knockouts) at 135 pounds, and his first loss to anyone other than Marco Antonio Barrera, who he fought in three thrilling bouts. But it wasn’t enough to stop a rematch eagerly anticipated by both Mexican and Filipino fans.
“Losses shouldn’t bring out the best in you, but you know somehow they do in me,” Morales said. “There is nothing you can do about those things that are already in the past but I know what I am capable of doing and what I want to do in this fight.”
Morales, who has held titles in three different weight classes, is suddenly in need of a big win after losing two of his last three fights. The Tijuana fighter has made a career out of standing in front of opponents and brawling with them, but must now answer questions of whether that has begun to slow him down at the age of 29.
Morales, though, says he is the same fighter he has always been, and just had a bad night against Raheem, who used movement and effective jabs and combinations to win a unanimous upset decision.
Morales said he will use the first fight as a blueprint of what he has to do in the rematch to win.
“After you have been 12 rounds with a guy there are a lot of things that you see that are good. I know he is strong. I know he is fast. I know he is a good fighter,” Morales said. “But I also learned that he is not as strong as a lot of people think or I never give him the opportunity to show his power against me. I am not going to give him any openings to hit me with his best shot.”
Pacquiao, whose all-out, never-quit-punching style has made him a national hero at home, says he is finally at peace with himself after a bitter split with promoter Murad Muhammad, who he blamed for making him fight with gloves he didn’t like in the first fight.
Pacquiao will go with Reyes gloves in the rematch, which he said allows him to hit harder because they are made with horsehair instead of foam. Roach said he has also tried to polish his fighter’s style somewhat so he won’t be hit so much.
“He fights with his heart and emotion,” Roach said. “People say you should change him and settle him down. But this is what makes him exciting and you can’t take it away from him.”
