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PACQUIAO, MORALES BOTH PREPARED FOR WAR! By Victor Perea PhilBoxing.com Sat, 10 Sep 2005  Top Rank's Chairman of the Board, Bob Arum believes Saturday night's Double-Trouble card which co-features Erik Morales 48-2 (34) vs. Zahir Raheem 26-1 (16) and Manny Pacquiao 39-3-2 (30) vs. Hector Velazquez 42-10-2 (31) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, will be a night to remember. "I think it's the best card we've ever put on in Los Angeles, from top to bottom," said Arum from the Double-Trouble pre-fight press conference, held just hours ago inside the Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Co-main event headliner Erik "El Terrible" Morales agrees with Arum, "If I wasn't fighting on Saturday night, I'm sure I would be ringside to watch these great fights." HBO, who will be broadcasting the event live on both coasts, starting at 6:45pm PST will unfortunately only feature the co-main events during its broadcast. Among the non-televised bouts on the card are WBC Light Flyweight Champion Eric Ortiz' title defense against slightly favored Filipino challenger Brian Viloria, as well as the American debut for 19-year-old Filipino phenom, Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista. The Double-Trouble card is set to be a stepping-stone to a Morales vs. Pacquiao rematch but first both must get past two talented fighters who both plan on ruining any plans for such a rematch. "These are no walks in the park… these are both tough fights," added Arum. It was not only clear that both challengers were up to the task, but that the heavily favored Morales and Pacquiao were both ready for the challenge. The first of co-main events is a scheduled 12 round Super Featherweight bout between Hector Velazquez of Tijuana and Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. "I respect Manny a lot, and I will be fighting him with that respect but I won't be taking a single step backwards against Manny," stated a confident Velazquez. Pacquiao's team made it clear that everybody in the Pacquiao camp was taking Velazquez remarkably serious. "I make sure to make you a good fight, to make people happy" said a joking Manny, who was even in the mood to plug his new movie. Part two of this double feature pins former US Olympic team member, Zahir Raheem, against Erik "El Terrible" Morales. Morales is coming off arguably one of the most dominating performances of his career against one of the worlds pound for pound most dominating fighters; while Raheem will be out to prove that his only loss, versus previously undefeated Rocky Juarez, was indeed a mistake. "I'm really looking forward to a good fight… I'm looking forward to doing a good job," stated a quiet Raheem, who drew little attention to himself throughout the conference. As for the other half of the equation, "Right now I'm fighting at 135lbs, I don't want to lose my speed, I don't want to lose my power," said Morales, who also noted that he has lacked knockouts as of late. "One thing is for sure I came here to make a great fight," said Morales, who looked physically more comfortable than before his last bout at 130lbs. Much to the disappointment of many avid boxing fans here in the States, what seems to be the most evenly matched fight of the night and quite possibly most anticipated will not be seen outside of the Staples center. Except of 'course for an international broadcast that does not include the United States. WBC Light Flyweight Champion, Eric Ortiz will make his first title defense after winning the belt from Jose Antonio Aguirre by seventh round TKO, earlier this year in Mexico City. He will be facing former US Olympian Brian Viloria whom from the very first second he was on the podium wanted the world to know something: "I am 100% Filipino…everyone thought I was Hawaiian because I was born in Hawaii, but I am very proud of that and I'm proud to say that I am." After getting that out of the way, Viloria also let us know what he thinks about his fight Saturday, "I am honored to fight for a title against a great fighter Eric Ortiz, I prepared myself well for this fight." Both Viloria and Ortiz dedicated their fight to Ruben Contreras, who was hospitalized, and has been since released after receiving a head trauma after a fight with Viloria in May of this year; Contreras will be present on Saturday, rooting for Viloria. A great treat for fans present at the Staples center will be the mainland America debut of a highly touted young prospect out of the Philippines. Known to many as the "Next Pacquiao", Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista 14-0 (11) will be tested against Columbian Felix Flores 13-4-1 (11). Bautista is widely contested as the next big thing to come out of Philippines and with all his action style and charming personality, Bautista looks forward to storming onto the American scene come Saturday night. Another future prospect that will be fighting Saturday out of the Freddie Roach's stable, Vanes Martirosyan 3-0 (1) will be facing a Gerardo Preito 4-2-1 of Mexico City in a six round Super Welterweight bout. "I think Vanes thinks this will be a real easy fight for him but I think for the first time in his life Vanes will be in a real professional fight," said Preito. Martirosyan's coach Freddie Roach who is also the trainer of three other fighters on the card including Pacquiao let Preito know that Vanes is a future contender and that he will be there and be ready to fight. To close off the night, David Rodela 2-0-1 (2) of Oxnard, California will face local boy, Hector Leyva 4-3 (2), in a 4 round Super Lightweight contest. Gustavo Tapia 11-19-3 (4) will have an uphill battle versus undefeated Lightweight, Urbano Antillon 15-0 (10) of Maywood, CA. Fighters will hit the scales tomorrow Friday, September 9th at 3pm, Staples Center. The weigh in is open to the public, so come out and support these great fighters. Tickets are still on sale, $300, $200, $100, $50 and $25. Box Office (213) 742-7340. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Victor Perea.  |
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