MANNY PACQUIAO and Erik Morales brought it on Wednesday.
And judging by the first press conference at the Beverly Hills Wilshire Hotel (held Thursday morning Manila time) of the two top draws in the boxing card ?Bring it On,? the clash between the Filipino boxing champ and the former world super featherweight titlist is cut out as the ring blockbuster fight fans expect it to be.
According to the boxing website fightnews.com, it was the biggest press turnout organized by Top Rank in Los Angeles, and marked the first meeting between the two ring gladiators for the March 19 bout set at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Morales, who lost his World Boxing Council super featherweight crown by split decision to archrival and fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera on November 27, wore a blazer over a white shirt, the website said.
On the other hand, Pacquiao had a rosary around his neck and had a blue-and-white sweatshirt on?and an expensive wristwatch to boot.
?I?m going to give you a real good fight,? said Pacquiao, exuding with confidence, while staring at his illustrious rival.
?I had three great fights last year. It didn?t finalize the way I had hoped it to, but I?m very satisfied with my performances. I didn?t want to take anyone easy coming back. I think this will be a great, explosive fight,? Morales shot back.
Managers? savvy
The fact that the two renowned prizefighters will be battling at all is due to the savvy and ingenuity of Top Rank?s Bob Arum, who handles Morales, and fellow American promoter Murad Muhammad, who recently renewed his contract with Pacquiao.
This happened after Juan Manuel Marquez, the reigning World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation featherweight titlist, balked at receiving the same purse as Pacquiao for their scheduled February 26 bout.
When the Marquez camp refused to back down, the two wily ring impresarios put their heads together to come up with a ?contingency? plan.
?I think that the money that was being offered by HBO [Home Box Office, the US cable network] for Pacquiao-Marquez, while substantial, wasn?t enough to make that fight, to satisfy the fighters,? Arum said in an interview with the website maxboxing.com.
?That got us to thinking that the bigger fight was clearly Morales-Pacquiao and that fight was bigger because it was a pay-per-view fight,? Arum said
?That led Murad and myself to thinking, ?Well, if it?s such a bigger fight and a pay-per-view fight, why not do that fight instead of Pacquiao-Marquez?? And so we went ahead and arranged that fight,? he added.
The website said HBO?s license fee for a second Pacquiao-Marquez fight was $1.5 million, which would be split evenly between the two boxers, but the Mexican, being a two-belt titleholder, wanted $1.2 million.
Filipino-Mexican clash
Murad, who promoted PacMan?s last fight in December in the Philippines, pitched in to hype up the match, saying: ?Pacquiao destroyed a legend in Barrera, knocked down Marquez three times, and now he?s going after the tough Mexican.?
Arum drummed up the Filipino-Mexican rivalry and noted: ?This [fight] smells like it?s going to do tremendous business because Morales-Barrera did big, but it was two Mexicans.?
?I think a Filipino and a Mexican brings another element to it, because it energizes over two million Filipinos in Southern California,? said Arum, citing the huge Filipino community in the adjacent state to Nevada, most of them boxing fans and proud of Pacquiao?s feats.
Left unsaid was the fact that California is also home to a large Latino community that often roots for its boxers, just like the 28-year-old pride of Tijuana, Mexico.
Arum disclosed that ticket prices will be pegged at $75 to $400 for the much-awaited March match, with earnings bound to swell since the fight is also a pay-per-view contest.
Pacquiao is guaranteed a $1.75-million purse for the fight with the Mexican brawler who, like his Filipino foe, refuses to back down from any opponent.
But according to the maxboxing.com website, ?this is what ?El Terrible? wanted?and it was clearly the best business decision for those involved.?
?If we had had more money from HBO we probably would?ve gone ahead and made Pacquiao-Marquez,? Arum said.
?But since we didn?t, and the fighters weren?t satisfied with the money available and since I didn?t think Pacquiao-Marquez was a pay-per-view fight, the alternative was to do Morales-Pacquiao.?
Given the surprising twists and turns in professional boxing, Morales said he was not surprised by the latest developments.
?I wasn?t surprised,? he said to the media on Wednesday afternoon. ?Because I know for about a year they were talking about fighting me. I was waiting on it. The opportunity came and I?m happy with it.?
In the back of his mind, Morales might have also recalled that he had been set to meet ?The Destroyer? earlier, but eventually wound fighting Barrera?thanks to Arum?s machinations.
Recovering from defeat
By fighting Pacquiao, the Mexican would also like to remove the bitter taste of defeat he suffered at the hands of Barrera in November.
?After this fight everyone is going to wonder who Barrera is,? he added, through Top Rank publicist Ricardo Jimenez. ?I?m going to take care of my business and forget him.?
For now, he added, the focus is on the Filipino.
?I?m thinking about March 19, having a great showing. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn?t, I?m going up to 135,? Morales said of a possible fourth showdown with Morales.
But he showed the Filipino fighter respect in saying: ?Without a doubt he?s strong and he?s probably the strongest fighter I faced.?
?[But] I?m probably the strongest fighter he?s going to face. So, we?ll see who?s the strongest guy out there,? said Morales, who has ring record of 47 wins?39 by knockout ?and two defeats.
Pacquiao has won 39 of his fights, 31 of them by knockout?including his fourth-round stoppage of Thailand?s Fahsan 3K Battery in December?against 2 losses and 2 draws.
The Filipino boxer, who stands 5-foot-6 and has a 67-inch reach, will be giving away two inches to his rival in height and a five-inch disadvantage in reach.
Famed American trainer Freddie Roach, who resumed training his Filipino ward last weekend, said fighting Morales was more to Pacquiao?s liking.
?I think the styles are going to make a better fight than the Marquez fight,? he said.
?Morales will fight you and exchange with you. So it makes it a lot better fight I believe and Marquez priced himself out of the fight. So maybe it?s a nice way of saying he didn?t want to fight again.?
Roach added Morales? fighting style was easier to read.
?Definitely true. The thing is, Morales has been a great fighter and so forth but he?s not a young guy coming up anymore,? he said. ?He?s probably not as fast or hits as hard as he used to. I would say between him and Barrera, they?re on the downsides of their careers a little bit.?
?And we?re going to take advantage of that. The thing is, we?re going to fight this fight, every minute of every round and make this guy fight at our pace and not his,? Roach said.
