WHILE HE admits that the prize money for his grudge rubber match turns him on, Manny Pacquiao yesterday said there’s nothing more fulfilling than beating Erik Morales for the second straight time.
Contacted after a weekend of fun and games with his two sons and pregnant wife, Pacquiao finally answered his mobile phone and told a couple of scribes that, while he is delighted at the thought of earning a paycheck without even throwing a single punch, he is more interested in beating up Morales in their fight scheduled on Nov. 18.
The official fight contract that Pacquiao will soon sign will guarantee the Filipino boxing star as much as $ 1 million in the likelihood that Morales fails to make the super-featherweight limit of 130 lbs. The two are set to duke it out for the third time at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“Kahit tumimbang siya na heavyweight, hindi ko siya aatrasan (Even if he weighs like a heavyweight, I won’t run away from a fight),” said Pacquiao from his residence in General Santos City. “Kaya kahit na kunin ko ang pera, hindi tayo sasabihan na magulang (So even if I get the money, I won’t look bad).”
Morales has started a weight training program under US experts in Los Angeles in the hopes of conquering the scales and climbing the ring in fighting form, not the way when he fought Pacquiao last January when the Tijuana native barely made it.
Morales had beaten Pacquiao when they first met in March 2005 and Pacquiao came back with a vengeance early this year by punching his way to a 10th-round knockout.
Pacquiao’s US and Filipino management teams are vying for a $ 3 million purse in the third fight, a share of the US pay-per-view revenue and even the acquisition of the TV rights for Philippine broadcast.
While the official fight contract has yet to be signed, Pacquiao insists he is not running away from his obligations with Top Rank, which is staging the rubber match, and is crystal-clear in making it public that by the time his wife gives birth to a girl they would name Mary Divine Grace sometime in October, he’d already be in the thick of training at the Wild Card in Hollywood.
“Kaya nga heto ako kasama ang mga bata lagi kong pinapasyal (That’s why I always go around with my kids),” added Pacquiao, who plans to kick off his training in Cebu in August before heading to the US in mid-September.
