LOS ANGELES, California, United States of America — The call of the moment is for a severe scrutiny, with strict police assistance, if you please.
Team Pacquiao must play it very shrewdly because, in the end, it will all boil down to how well the opponent has been scouted.
No problem, nothing to worry, assured trainer Buboy Fernandez.
Manny Pacquiao’s trusted Filipino handler sounded like a trained cop yesterday as he kept watch over Pacquiao in their rented two-room apartment on Sunset Boulevard.
The most famous living Filipino was taking his usual bed rest after another long morning jog around the hills of Hollywood.
Pacquiao’s weight is ideal: 129 lbs., one under the super featherweight limit, despite feasting like a king.
Same with the sparring: Over 100 rounds against taller partners who simulated the stance and style of Erik Morales.
Fernandez said Pacquiao could ramble against Morales anytime.
The trainer assured he was not bragging, but merely reporting a happy fact.
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Well, Pacquiao need not be told that Erik Morales has been exuding the same confidence.
In fact, unlike Team Pacquiao, the Mexican camp did not have to dig hard to measure the terror kept in Pacquiao’s blazing left fist.
The Mexicans have definitely made advance preparations on how to lessen the impact, if not totally deflect the killer punch.
There’s no way they could defuse the Pacquiao bomb.
But, with their information on the terror in Pacquiao’s fist, it cannot be said the RP boxing hero would enter the ring with a concealed weapon.
At the same time, Morales cannot just shrug off what Pacquiao and his chief trainer, Freddie Roach, had bragged about a secret weapon they plan to explode on fight night.
Team Pacquiao went as far as labelling it “Manila Ice,” a ploy allegedly perfected to stop the Mexican warrior cold.
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All things told, Pacquiao appears to be enjoying a slight edge in the pre-fight psy-war.
But that’s only if you’re reading the fight blurbs, not to mention the taunts from the Filipino camp.
A closer, more concerned scrutiny would, however, bare that Team Pacquiao may have overlooked a crucial plus point in Morales’ armory.
This has obviously escaped the eyes of many fight students. But Pacquiao could be totally ignorant about the unshakeable gift that has saved Morales from being knocked out in all his bouts.
His durability could make it appear that Morales is gifted with an unbreakable chin.
The Mexican warrior has rare qualities that make his head roll and swivel out of harm’s way upon being hit.
Morales could, in fact, be likened to a doll with a magical mechanism around the neck.
It was almost impossible to nail him down with a blow to the head.
Trying that could be as futile, frustrating as pushing a rubber ball into a pail of water.
* * *
Well, these qualities are obviously inborn. But they were visibly developed into a solid defensive edge through dedication and patience.
Maybe Freddie Roach has himself noticed this Morales gift.
But, Pacquiao, who tends to “swallow” blows, cannot be instantly taught to copy Morales’s heady advantage.
What’s necessary now is an adjustment in artillery.
It would not be easy to stop Morales with the usual swinging punch, also a Pacquiao favorite.
So would Pacquiao next try to emphasize on a new weapon, like that slicing uppercut that sent Thai Fahsan 3K Battery airborne then flat on the floor in Taguig City last December?
This we will know from Freddie Roach.
Or is that explosive new blow part of the “Manila Ice” plot?
