Las Vegas, NV-After reviewing the videotape (the HBO replay) Saturday night of Manny Pacquiao’s brutal beat-down of Erik Morales last week, I feel there should be an arrest warrant issued for the Pacman. The charges include Assault with Deadly Weapons, & ten counts of Domestic Violence! A winner via TKO in ten, Manny worked Erik over to a much greater extent than I had originally thought. But I’m not going to labor over that, rather we will take this space and point out the differences, or the improvements if you will of the Pacman.
IMPROVEMENT IN PACQUIAO NOT JUST TALK!
First of all, the fiery Filipino was in better physical condition for the rematch. But, what I noticed as early as the second round was that Manny was showing Erik something he hadn’t seen before, at least from Pacquiao. He was doing shoulder and hand “feints,” where it appeared to Erik anyway that Manny was firing a punch, when in fact he wouldn’t. Remember, my big knock on Manny prior to this fight was that he was “one dimensional.” Before, every time Pacquiao coiled, he would throw a punch. Not so in the Morales rematch.
FEINTS SET UP COMBOS THAT SPAWNED CONFIDENCE!
Although Erik’s legs were spread wide early, Pacquiao, with his body and fender work, took away the “tall” game when Erik tried to box straight up in the later rounds. Using a variety of punches, especially the right-hook to the body, and sometimes as a lead punch, transformed the one-armed bandit into a brick throwing Filipino. Getting Morales to bite on the feints early on was a major key to the dismantling. This just threw gasoline on the fire that was Manny’s confidence.
PAYING ATTENTION TO SENOR ROACH
Another plus in the rematch was the discipline of Pacquiao in the corner. In the first fight, although he was cut, he had problems focusing in on trainer Freddie Roach. With simple instructions given, Pacquiao applied them. “Work the jab, then drop it down to the body. Then, come up to the head with hooks.”
INCREASED POWER GOT ERIK’S RESPECT DURING BOUT!
When Manny hit Erik on the chin with his left cross, they didn’t seem to connect with the same velocity that he had on them last week. And while Erik would disrespect Manny, both before and after the fight, that wasn’t the case when they were actually fighting. Not only was Erik willing to do a lot of “touching gloves,” he did so with respect for Pacquiao. From what I can gather, Morales began respecting Manny as early as the second round. But as Erik is Erik, he went back to dissing the man that had just handed him a sombrero with his own head in it, when interviewed afterwards. You know the story, he who laughs last!
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, talk show host, and former four-time Golden Gloves champion. Comments relating to this article can be left below.
