The last one might have been more one-sided than his fans would have liked, but Erik Morales is going to take one more swipe at Manny Pacquiao.
The three-division champion from Tijuana will meet Pacquiao for a third time Sept. 16 — Dieciseis de Septiembre weekend — at Sam Boyd Stadium on the campus of UNLV in Las Vegas, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum confirmed Friday.
Arum is in El Paso for today’s Jose Luis Castillo-Rolando Reyes fight at the Don Haskins Center.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s pretty much done because we have a contract with the terms,” said Arum, who promotes Morales.
The swiftness of the Pacquiao-Morales rubber match is surprising, considering “Pac-Man’s” dominance in their last fight on Jan. 21. Pacquiao knocked out Morales in the 10th round at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
It was the first time Morales had been knocked out in his career, and some boxing insiders were expecting him to retire.
But Arum said “El Terrible” will be ready to go by September.
“Erik believes that he trained wrong and did the wrong thing in training, and that if he corrects that, and if he is able to keep his legs for the 12 rounds, he’ll win the fight,” Arum said. “In the early rounds, he was winning the fight. And his legs gave out. And I really believe in Erik. I believe that if he trains right, and gets the weight off before he goes to camp, then he’ll be fine.”
Morales, 48-4 (34 knockouts), beat Pacquiao, 41-3-2 (33 KOs), on March 19, 2005, via unanimous decision. But he took a fierce beating in the rematch two weeks ago. Some figured the tremendous battles he has endured through the years finally had caught up with him.
But Arum said he doesn’t believe Morales will be returning too soon.
“He really will have seven, eight months — it’s enough time,” the Hall of Fame promoter said. “I really believe that he’ll be able to come through this time. Now, if I’m wrong and he doesn’t, then he probably should consider retiring.”
Arum and Finkel plan to make the promotion and outdoor extravaganza, with tents set up around the stadium for a festive holiday atmosphere.
Arum has some experience in outdoor promotion. He put on the 1998 Oscar De La Hoya-Patrick Charpentier fight in the Sun Bowl, which drew more than 45,000 people. “It’s just that we want to make it a spectacular event,” he said. “The university came to us with this plan and we liked it. We’re going to be able to do it with 25,000 people. It’s going to be a great event, and I’m very excited.”
Armijo ready: Junior middleweight Rene Armijo Jr. is the only El Paso fighter to appear on today’s Castillo-Reyes card at the Haskins Center. Armijo, 5-2 (1 KO), meets Francisco Villa, 2-3 (1 KO), of Midland.
“I’d like to fight at least once every month or once every two months and take it as far as I can take it,” Armijo said of his career. “The ultimate goal is to become a world champion. Hopefully I can close in on that in three years.”
Matthew Aguilar may be reached at [email protected]; 546-6166.
