WHY, WHY, WHY, ERIK MORALES LOST
San Francisco, CA-Back in January 2006, the war of words between both Manny Pacquiao’s and Erik Morales’ camp had waned. Top Rank founder Bob Arum, said it best when trying to sell the fight to PPV audience, “Just look at the first fight!” Most people ignored the fact that Morales was not being advised by his father, Jose, in between rounds for the first time in his long career. A larger mental block for boxing fans was the fact that Erik Morales lost his previous fight against Zahir Raheem in September 2005. Most people ignored all these possible short coming on Morales’ side because of the success of the first fight.
FOCUS OF THE SECOND FIGHT WAS ON PACQUIAO
Instead, the focus was on Manny Pacquiao, who was coming off an impressive knocked out of Hector Velasquez on the same night Morales was dominated by Raheem. At the same time Pacquiao was not bogged down by his ex-promoter, Murad Muhammad, and had the luxury of picking his own gloves. These two factors, along with a much improve game plan, led to a dominating victory over Morales, who was knocked out for the first time, in that re-match.
MORALES CAMP OVER SIMPLIFYING HIS LOSS?
Nearly all fighters come up with excuses every time they lose. Pacquiao blamed his socks, which resulted in blisters on his feet, for losing the lead against Juan Manuel Marquez back in 2004. In his loss to Morales in the first fight (March 2005), he claimed he could not see after he suffered a cut on his eyebrow from a punch (officially, but I might disagree) in the middle of the fight. Naturally, Erik Morales had his reasons for losing to Pacquiao that night; he simply “got tired”. In other words, he was not in proper condition to beat Pacman that night
BODY SHOTS & POOR GAMEPLAN LED TO DOWNFALL
A follower of Erik Morales understands that Morales strengths as a fighter is ability to take a punch and his willingness to brawl whenever he wants too. He was never a master boxer, or a guy who can knock out with either hand. Morales would beat his opponents into submission over 12 rounds. Morales’ ability to take a punch discouraged his opponents because they felt they couldn’t hurt him. Conditioning was never an issue for Morales, as he was known to get tired during the stretch run of fights. Against Guty Espadas and In Jin Chi, Morales looked like a fighter who was too tried to last all 12 rounds. Ahead in his second bout against Marco Antonio Barrera, Morales once again “got tried” and allowed Barrera to rally and win that bout.
MORALES MUST STICK TO WHAT HE IS GOOD AT
To beat Manny Pacquiao once again, Erik Morales must not focus on why he lost to Pacquiao in the second bout, but rather why he won the first fight. Simply put, Morales won the second fight because he took everything Manny brought to him and was never on the verge of getting knocked out. Lesser fighters would have gone down after taking flush Pacquiao shots from that first fight.
IN SHAPE OR NOT, IT WON’T MATTER ERIK!
Don’t be fooled by the nutritionists that Erik Morales has hired in order to get him into shape. The classic line that “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” applies in this case. A fine of up to one million dollars hangs over Morales’ head should he not make weight and his new training methods will allow Morales to make weight. The question is will it be enough to once again beat Pacquiao.
WINNING JUST ISN’T ABOUT MAKING WEIGHT
Maybe easily making 130lbs can be a psychological booster to a man, who has lost three out of his last four fights. Maybe the fact that another loss to Pacquiao would essentially ends the great career of “El Terrible”. One fact is certain, if Morales handles Manny’s fire power in the same way he did in the first fight, Filipinos’ collective blood pressures will be at an all time high in two weeks.
