With only 12-days left for the much anticipated showdown between featheweight mega stars Manny Pacquiao and Erik ‘El Terrible’ Morales, “fair but firm” referee Joe Cortez will be the third man in the ring on March 19 along with judges Dave Moretti, Chuck Giampa, and Paul Smith ringside.
Much controversy surrounding the judges who scored the Pacquiao-Marquez fight incoherently, raised questions around the fairness and integrity from Pacquiao’s promoter Eddie Muhammad, “The scoring was unfair. How can you not deduct 4 points from Marquez if he was knocked down three times in the round?” said Muhammad as he questioned how Burt Clements scored the first round of Pacquiao-Marquez 10-7 in stead of 10-6 like the other two judges.
Four-months later Pacquiao returned to his hometown in the Philipines to defend his IBF title against Fahsan (3K Battery) Por Thawatchai, giving him a beating before knocking him out in the fourth round.
Erik Morales took his second loss to the only person that has beaten him, Marco Antonio Barrera. Morales said “I wasn’t prepared for him this time. I need to remind everyone that I’m still a fighter.”
Tickets priced at $400, $300, $200, $125 and $75, not including applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale Friday, Jan.14 at Noon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office. Tickets also are sold at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Tower Records/WOW!, Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino locations.)
To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (702)-474-4000. Tickets are also available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com. For room packages, availability and event ticket information about MGM Grand, call (800)-929-1111 or (702)-891-7777 or log onto the World Wide Web at www.mgmgrand.com.
The Morales vs. Pacquiao pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9pm ET/6pm PT on March 19, has a suggested retail price of $44.95, will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to over 50 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.
