THE ON-LINE poll being conducted by HBO Pay-Per-View on its website favors Manny Pacquiao over Erik Morales, his Mexican rival on March 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
An overwhelming 67 percent picked Pacquiao to win by knockout, while six percent thought he?d win on points.
Only 16 percent voted for Morales to win by knockout, while another 11 percent predicted that the Mexican is going to run away with the decision.
Because of the fighting style and punching power of the two fighters, only 1 percent believed that the fight is going to end on a draw.
Pacquiao is coming off a fourth-round stoppage of Fahsan 3K Battery on Dec. 11, 2004, while Morales is fresh from a 12-round decision defeat to Marco Antonio Barrera on Nov. 27, two weeks before Pacquiao?s one-punch demolition of the Thai.
Morales and Pacquiao have two common opponents: Marco Antonio Barrera and Filipino Reynante Jamili.
Morales, 28, won only once (by decision) in three meetings with Barrera, and had took out Jamili in six rounds in July 1997 in Tijuana in a defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) super-bantamweight crown.
Pacquiao, 26, became the first to stop Barrera when the two rumbled in Nov. 2003 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. In Dec. 1999, Pacquiao devastated Jamili in two rounds in his 122-lb debut.
According to oddsmakers in Las Vegas, Pacquiao is a 6-5 favorite.
Dubbed “Bring It On,” the scheduled 12-round super-featherweight match will have as main supporting bouts the fight for the vacant WBC light-fly title between Jose Antonio Aguirre of Mexico and Roberto Vasquez of Panama and the WBC fly title defense of Thailand?s Pongsaklek Wonjongkam against ex-WBC light-fly king Jorge Arce.
Meanwhile, Murad Muhammad, Pacquiao?s promoter, said Filipino super-fly Z Gorres is “definitely going to see action in the undercard against a top ten fighter.”
Muhammad made the promise yesterday to one of Gorres? handlers, Rudy Salud.
Gorres, who is based in Cebu, trained for over a month at the Wild Card Boxing Club of Freddie Roach in Hollywood last year.
“Please do tell my brother, Rudy Salud, that he?s going to be there at ringside and on TV on March 19,” said Muhammad.
