UNLIKE Manny Pacquiao whose brother recently absorbed a neat boxing lesson, Mexican Erik Morales has a world-ranked bantamweight brother to lean on for vital fight inputs.
Diego “Pelucho” Morales yesterday advised his more illustrious brother to initiate the action and take the fight to the Filipino hero when they clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for their 12-round duel on March 19.
“Erik should move toward Pacquiao’s right side, and press the action,” the 25-year-old southpaw, a former World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight champion, told Box-Latino yesterday.
Good attacker
The younger brother of the Mexican legend, who is himself ranked World Boxing Council (WBC) No. 1 and World Boxing Association (WBA) No. 3 bantamweight, added that Pacquiao is only good on the attack, but doesn’t know what to do when he is on the defensive.
“Pacquiao is like a machine that throws stones, but doesn’t know what to do when he is attacked,” he explained.
For Morales, this could be the key which both Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez failed to exploit. The two Mexicans had been on the receiving end of Pacquiao’s vaunted left with Barrera losing by TKO in 2003 and Marquez needing a big rally to salvage a draw last year.
The younger Morales is currently staying at the Otomi Mountains assisting his brother prepare for the much-awaited Pacquiao showdown.
Lean training team
For the first time in 10 years, the Mexican has been training without his usual retinue which used to include a doctor, nutritionist, cook and physical conditioning coach.
This time, he has trimmed down his team to include only his father-manager Jose Morales, his brother Diego, and trainer Fernando Fernandez.
Serving as Morales’ sparmates at the Otomi Mountains in preparation for Pacquiao are Alirio Rivero, Rodrigo Juarez, Fernando “Wary” Beltran, Junior, Julio Gamez and Lupe Rangel.
Pacquiao is training under American Freddie Roach in Los Angeles and missed seeing his younger brother Bobby, the reigning Philippine junior lightweight champion, lose by a knockout in the ninth round last Friday to a Thai fighter Manny had demolished in 2002.
