LAS VEGAS, Nevada, United States of America — After being threatened by a virus, Manny Pacquiao was attacked and called a quitter in public yesterday, three days before his monumental showdown with Mexican boxing icon Erik Morales, who praised his Filipino opponent as a powerful and dangerous fighter.
There was word from Pacquiao’s suite that a sick hanger-on-shivery and obviously going down with the flu-has been disallowed from driving for the Filipino boxing superstar, who should be shielded from all forms of harm and hassle in the run-up to the biggest fight of his career.
However, Pacquiao and his people here, including a gang of kibitzers from Los Angeles, could only listen meekly as Morales’ manager, Fernando Beltran, heaped verbal abuse on the Filipino boxing hero in an SRO press conference at the Studio A of the MGM Grand, venue of Saturday’s boxing showdown being hyped as “Coming on with Everything.”
Morales ‘belittled’
Beltran socked it to Team Pacquiao which he claimed had belittled Morales by bragging “they’re gonna take out Morales in one round, take out Morales in two rounds, 10 rounds, whatever.”
Beltran, livid in a light gray coat, asked: “Everyone of you here, tell me, who has taken Morales out in 49 fights?”
“Nadie (no one)!” chorused the Mexicans in the conference hall.
“So, I would like to say to all of you: If someone is looking to quit a fight, it’s Manny Pacquiao, not Erik Morales,” Beltran said.
Pacquiao, brighter of face after shaving off the baby beard he wore when he checked in here Monday, stared blankly as Beltran belted away.
“Pacquiao,” continued the Mexican manager, “once, he was hit with a body punch, he went down the canvas, he didn’t want to continue fighting; second one, he was cut in a later fight, he stopped and wanted to end the fight.”
Beltran blurted out: “Erik Morales has been cut, Erik Morales has been hurt, Erik Morales will never back up, he will never say that’s the end, he will always fight one more round, two more rounds, whatever it takes to win a fight.”
$100,000 bet
For the disrespect Team Pacquiao had supposedly done to Morales, Beltran dangled a $100,000 bet.
“Or put your money in your mouth,” Beltran told Pacquiao people, then closed his attack and walked down the stage to a big applause.
Nobody in Team Pacquiao, led by promoter Murad Muhammad, who together with trainer Freddie Roach had incensed the Mexican side with their taunts, called the big bet.
The colorful and well-attended press conference promises to be a fitting lead-off to the March 19 event (Sunday morning in Manila) which, according to promoter Bob Arum, “is not a big fight, but a great event.”
The tale of the tape showed Morales at 5 feet 8, a good two inches taller than Pacquiao, even though they appeared almost equal in height and in build as they stood face to face for photographers at the end of the media session.
Arum said the card should be a sure sellout, with only 2,000 of the 14,700 seats at the MGM Grand Garden waiting to be snatched.
Pacquiao spoke in straight English to the delight of the crowd. He asked fans not to miss the event because, he said, it will surely be a memorable one.
Morales acknowledged Pacquiao’s speed and awesome form, calling the Filipino superstar a dangerous foe.
Loosening walks
Pacquiao, expected to breeze through the weigh-in, wound up his regular drills yesterday but will do some loosening walks until Friday.
It’s an open secret Morales has been struggling to keep his weight down, although he no longer appeared frail and gaunt yesterday, unlike when he checked in from the cold following a long flight from Mexico City to this city the other day.
Morales, who reportedly completed 300 rounds of sparring in the mountains, compared to the 161 done by Pacquiao in LA, will continue to work out behind closed doors at the Top Rank gym here.
For the third straight night, Pacquiao and his close aides prayed the Holy Rosary in his suite.
Mayor Pedro Acharon of General Santos City, who joined the prayer group, said he no longer saw the sick driver who had threatened to contaminate the boxing hero among Pacquiao’s hangers-on.
