Erik Morales might go back to training under his father or hire a new trainer when he gears up for a third bout with Manny Pacquiao on September 16, according to Internet reports on Tuesday.
Morales “believes that he trained wrong” for his rematch with the Filipino icon and may turn to a third trainer, his American promoter Bob Arum told reporters Saturday in El Paso, Texas.
Pacquiao dealt the Mexican boxing legend the first knockout loss of his career when he stopped “El Terrible” in the 10th round of their second fight on January 21 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Their third fight, stipulated as a rematch clause in the contract of their second bout, falls on Mexico’s Independence Day. It will take place at Sam Boyd Stadium also in Las Vegas, the home football field for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Arum’s comment echoed that of Morales’ father Jose, who had complained to the Mexican press that his son wasn’t preparing properly for “PacMan” under his new trainer, Jose Luis “Maestro” Lopez.
“He called me and said he felt he knew what he did wrong in his preparation, that his legs gave out because of the weight problem,” Arum said of Morales, who appeared exhausted when Pacquiao knocked him down twice in the fateful 10th round.
“He said he knew how to deal with that, and that he wanted a chance to win the rubber match.”
Lopez took over from the elder Morales, who had trained Erik from the start of his career, after the former three-time world champion lost embarrassingly to Zahir Raheem on September 10 in Los Angeles.
However, Morales and Lopez apparently did not establish a connection during their training for Pacquiao, and the boxer is not too keen on returning to his father, who is battling diabetes, the Internet reports said.
Most boxing observers noted Jose Morales’ dismissal as trainer and Erik’s difficulty in making the 130-pound weight limit for the rematch as the top reasons why the Mexican bowed to Pacquiao. Interestingly, the third fight is set at 132 pounds.
When the father and son were still a team, Erik beat the Filipino convincingly via unanimous decision in their first match last March 19.
Pacquiao—who recently said he would only fight his Mexican archrival again at 130 pounds—is tipped to face either Oscar Larios or Javier Jauregui in Manila sometime in June. Morales will not take an interim bout, according to Arum.
