Firing the first salvo of the the verbal war that will ultimately shape the decision on who gets how much, Mexican legend Erik “El Terrible” Morales yesterday openly declared that he only wants to face the best, and take on the guy who people want him to face.
Thus, Morales said, he had sent his representatives to negotiate with the representatives of Ring Magazine featherweight king Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, whom he goes up against on March 19 in a 12-round showdown for the ages on an HBO pay-per-view card dubbed “Bring It On!” at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Unconfirmed reports had also quoted Morales as saying he is the bigger draw in this fight, hence he should be getting the bigger slice of the pie.
?A partir de mi pelea con Pacquiao, har? un estudio m?s cient?fico de mis adversarios. Y en el terreno t?cnico, tendr? gente muy capaz? (For my fight with Pacquiao, i will use more science in my study against my adversary. And in the technical aspect, I will have very able people), Morales said in an interview with Mexican boxing reporters yesterday.
The 28-year-old Morales is expected to arrive at the Centro Ceremonial Otom? in Temoaya, Mexico–his training headquarters for more than a decade now–in the third week of January to start rigid preparation for the Pacquiao mega-showdown.
The 26-year-old Pacquiao, meanwhile, is now at the the Wild Card Gym of renowned trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, and was set to start his rigid training yesterday.
This colossal bout will pit two of the world’s best pound-for-pound gladiators in Morales, who holds a 47-2 win-loss record with 34 KO’s against Pacquiao, the Filipino ring icon with a 39-2-2 win-loss-draw card with 31 KO’s.
The Ring Magazine ranks Pacquiao no. 6, while Morales is no. 9 in its pound-for-pound list.
The match-up will also renew Filipino-Mexican rivalry in boxing, and Pacquiao versus Morales will mark the 37th time that a Filipino takes on a Mexican great in a 12-round showdown.
The head-to-head match-up between both countries in boxing has Mexico winning 23 bouts, while the Philippines has 11 bouts in 36 previous encounters. Two bouts had ended in a draw, namely the Gerry Penalosa-Joel Zarate and Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez encounters.
