No Filipino fist-fighter I know has been written about more often and more prodigally than Manny Pacquiao. Day in and day out we have news about him from Las Vegas and New York as March 19 approaches, the date of his fight with Mexico?s Erik Morales. Not even the great Gabriel (Flash) Elorde got this type of treatment, a dawn-to-dusk narration of his activities. Well. When nothing moves in the Philippines, when all there is boredom and the same old reportage on crime and graft and corruption, any story about Pacquiao is welcome.
The latest is that the fight odds are now about even 6-5 either way as Morales comes on strong in the pens of American and Latin-American sportswriters. He is strong, they say, and he is, not just strong but fast, with thunder in both fists, and nobody has ever knocked Erik Morales out. In his last fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, a rippling, savage exchange, Morales lost by just a point or two. It could have been a draw. Remember that our Pacquiao stopped the same Barrera in the eleventh over a year ago.
We?ve got two guys today commenting almost negatively on Manny Pacquiao.
The first is Mel Lopez, former Manila mayor, and head of the boxing federation. Mel, a virtuoso of boxing, says Pacquiao is flat-footed, moves around on both feet like a duck, shoots punches only when his feet are firmly planted on the canvas. Manny cannot swivel from left to right, from right to left, fast enough to meet his opponent head-on. Here the Filipino may not be able to anticipate Morales? punches which the Mexican delivers with semi-circular speed. And brother, he can hit!
Funny, but I never detected this flaw, or alleged flaw in Pacquiao?s boom-boom delivery. And yet, Mel Lopez could be right. Manny Pacquiao is not an agile dancer as Morales is, as many Latin-Americans are, the samba or the rhumba as the case may be. And when you look at the old fights of Manny Pacquiao before Freddie Roach handled him, he was indeed awkward on his feet, loping back into position like he just came from a mud swamp.
Another critic is Hermie Rivera, this column?s Nick the Greek, a traveling salesman of boxing, here now, gone tomorrow, with the glibbest mouth there is in local fistiana. Says Hermie: “It can go both ways, but if Morales hits first and on the button, I?ll wager he can finish Manny Pacquiao ? easy. It?s the same thing if Pacquiao gets to the Mexican first. Unahan iyan. Parehong malakas na sumuntok.”
Both Mel Lopez and Hermie Rivera can be compelling. But I haven?t changed my mind. I?ll say Pacquiao hits harder, and if he can weather the punches of Morales in the first and second rounds, he?ll certainly get to the jaw of the Mexican with the explosion than can rip a heavy bag from its moorings. Morales never downed Barrera in their last fight. Pacquiao tko?d Barrera after decking him twice.
I say Manny Pacquiao will bomb Morales like he had never been bombed before, and bring home the bacon to a Philippines long famished for good news.
