A mere three years ago, the Featherweight Division in boxing looked like such a different landscape than it?s present status that it could only be attributed to a set of boxing bouts that were the equivalent of a combination of tectonic shift occurring within Pugilism and Capitalism. On top of the world rankings in 2004 were Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. Already in the books by the end of that year were an exciting comeback draw between Marquez and Barrera, an eleven round knockout for Pacquiao over Barrera, and a bloody trilogy of decisions for Barrera over Morales. In other words, much of the business between these fighters that would ever come to be had already happened.
That following year it only made sense to make one of the only match ups amongst those names that had not yet occurred by matching Pacquiao, 39-3, 31 KO’s, with Morales, 48-2, 34 KO’s, in what was sure to be a brawling showdown between two of the best fighters in the world. To add context, consider that the Fight of the Year in 2004 was the third showdown between Barrera and Morales while the fight between Pacquiao and Marquez was the runner up. Combining two of the four fighters was sure to create explosions and there were only two combinations of fighter not yet explored and Pacquiao and Morales was only natural to bind as one aggressive prize package.
Unlike the series between Morales and Barrera, there was not a tremendous amount of bad blood going into the fight. This bout had more to do with deciding a true champ in the division than the personal hatred that one could reference in the Barrera-Morales rivalry. In this case, fight fans could expect the great style mesh without the flack surrounding it. Morales stood as a long armed bomber that came directly forward. His footwork and decision making skills were as good as any other fighter on the planet. Pacquiao?s hands were the fastest around and he did not mind coming forward himself. The expectations were that Morales would try to brawl at a distance while Pacquiao would swing from places that were phone booth close. Fortunately for the fans, that would be exactly how the tune got played.
On March 19, 2005, the MGM grand packed in 14,623 screaming fans of both fighters. Each man came to the ring in the usual fashion, hopping in with a team of people behind him and saving the theatrics for the period of time between bells. From the way the fight began, it is almost as if the introductions inside the ring could not have gone any quicker.
Pacquiao immediately opened the action by sizing up Morales and railing him with straight lefts for most of the first rounds. Morales answered with a bit over a minute left by pounding back with right hands, including a combination of three straight right hands. Pacquiao slammed the Mexican hero with a thunderous left cross that doubled Morales at the waist, but was driven back to the ropes by heavy counterattack. In the second round, Morales began using his size advantage and bullied Pacquiao around the ring with shoves and huge right hand shots. The highlight of the round came with less than twenty seconds to go. Morales landed such a tenacious right uppercut that it appeared to come in slow motion. Pacquiao ricocheted off the ropes and both men flurried to finish the round.
In the third and fourth rounds, Morales continued to work his right hand hard but often took shots to the ribs in order to set up that shot. Morales and Pacquiao both threw combinations but Morales? longer arms allowed him to control with his jabs and big right hands in order to take the rounds. In the third, Pacquiao returned to his stool with a bloody mouth. In the fourth, Morales closed the round with a five punch combination.
The fifth round, the best of the fight, had the appearance of two starving pit bulls trapped in a bathroom stall. Morales knocked Pacquiao?s head around like a rag doll and Pacquiao returned the favor in kind with a stunning left hand. From that point on, the round became a gore fest. During incredible infighting that featured numerous combinations traded back and forth, a hard head butt left Pacquiao with a gaping cut over his right eye.
It was at this point that referee Joe Cortez stopped the bout and called the ringside doctor into the ring to check up on Pacquiao?s cut. The doctor took his sweet time before deciding the fight could go on, depriving the worthy masses of precious moments of action. Cortez maintained that the fight was from a punch rather than a head butt, a clear miscall following the fight.
Pacquiao?s cut would bother him for the rest of the fight and was said later to obstruct his vision. Morales showed no sympathy, scoring on the eye with hard jabs and right crosses for the rest of the night. Thankfully for Pacquiao, the hardest shots in the sixth round came off of the body. By then, Morales? white trunks had turned a splotchy red.
Morales continued to control the fight in the seventh and eighth rounds by maintaining his distance and stunning Pacquiao with hard shots several times by landing hard right hands and slowly shifting into toe-to-toe action. While Pacquiao dropped those rounds, he was able in the seventh to rip an eight shot combination that was missed by any spectator that blinked. In the ninth round, Pacquiao actually showed some sign that he might be able to take Morales down by putting Morales on shaky legs with a hard three punch combination. Morales reeled backwards and fell under a heavy rain of shots throughout the rest of the round.
The tenth round served as a continuation of the preceding moments, as Pacquiao continued to hold the upper hand for several minutes. Suddenly, after domination from Pacquiao for the majority of the round, Morales began to revert back to the attack of earlier rounds. He whacked Pacquiao around the ring yet again with long, powerful strikes, trapping Pacquiao in the corner and mercilessly landing crosses. Pacquiao?s mouthpiece flew from his mouth and it took twenty seconds before action lulled just long enough for Cortez to replace it. As Cortez put the piece back in place, Morales squatted in the corner across the ring for a breather. As time was called back, Morales stood and threw fury from the southpaw position for the last twenty seconds of the round.
The eleventh round featured even action. Morales landed several hard and memorable shots but took a flurry from Pacquiao in return. His response to that flurry included a negative shake of the head and a couple of right hands. Pacquiao again landed a hard combination just inside of one minute left in the round, crushing shots off the head of Morales.
Prior to the twelfth round, Morales? team of Jose Morales and Jose Luis Lopez, SR., told him that the fight was in the bag as long as he continued to box smart and did not do anything crazy. Meanwhile, Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach told him that he had three minutes, implying that a knockout was required for victory. Pacquiao shook his crimson head in agreement.
One minute into the round, Morales began boxing from the southpaw position. At first he landed hard left hooks. Pacquiao than began to return fire and land punishing combinations of hooks to the head and straight left hands down the pipe. Given Morales? propensity to keep his hands next to his head rather than in front and his now uncomfortable and square stance in the unorthodox position, he was a moving target. Pacquiao rocked him several times and easily dominated the final round by landing easily and often. Morales seemed so shook up by the end of the round that he hugged Pacquiao?s waist every time he was rushed. Fortunately for him he survived the round, but Pacquiao had him jarred and reeling at the end.
When the last bell finally rang, it seemed as though a two hundred year crusade had taken place in the heart of one Las Vegas? finest hotel and casinos. The light blue mat looked as though splatter painted red by a kindergarten child. Both fighters appeared as a high school student might on Halloween night, with grotesque cuts and long trails of swollen skin and blood rivers. Morales leaped on to the ropes and was carried off by his corner while Pacquiao?s men immediately set to work on fixing his damaged mug shot. The pain was clear and dug at the heart of boxing itself. Two fighters had impressed a diehard audience with little regard for health. All was on the line for each as time, as well as the boxing world, suspended in waiting for the announcement of the judges? decision.
That is, all was suspended by Freddie Roach. Immediately after the fight, he cut open Pacquiao?s gloves, tore them off the fighter?s hands and shook them at promoter Murad Muhammad. It seemed that Muhammad had agreed that Pacquiao was slated by the contract to use Winning Gloves, a softer type of glove than the ones Pacquiao was used to wearing. Pacquiao prefers Reyes brand gloves.
As Michael Buffer announced the 115-113 (three times) unanimous decision in favor of Morales, the Mexican countryman pumped his fist. Across the ring from him stood his opponent, crying on the shoulder of a member of his team. It was the first of three battles and many have said it was the best of them.
As incredible as the fight was, it is interesting to note that Pacquiao was again denied Fight of the Year Honors due to a rare and unusually spectacular performance known as Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo I.
It has also been said that the crime rate throughout the Philippines was a literal 0% that day. It seems that the organized violence of the fight game excited violent and non-violent offenders alike to the point where they would rather prepare for and watch a prize fight. Either that, or no one took the time to arrest anyone.
While Morales won that day, the victory would be the last in his long, great career. He lost by decision to Zahir Raheem in the 2005 Upset of the Year, then lost twice to Pacquiao in the other two fights of the series. The first of those fights was a ten round war that featured a resilient Pacquiao launching and sustaining a stunning combination that knocked Morales down and out for the first time in his career.
His last fight, on August 4th of this year, was a spirited and competitive battle against WBC Champion David Diaz. Morales dropped a unanimous decision by scores of 113-112, 115-113, 115-112 in his last fight. There is no shame in the way he left the fight game.
As for Pacquiao, business could not be much better. The Pac Man bounced back by destroying Hector Velazquez in six round and has rolled through six more victories since losing to Morales and exacted revenge twice on him. He also has finalized business with Marco Antonio Barrera by beating him easily by decision earlier this month, out boxed Oscar Larios, and erased the undefeated record of Jorge Solis by battering him over eight rounds. Many consider him to be a top three Pound for Pound contender in the world.
