LAS VEGAS – Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao have flirted with supremacy in the super featherweight division for years. After a highly-anticipated matchup Saturday, one of them will claim bragging rights despite not holding a belt.
Morales and Pacquiao headline a card that features WBA super flyweight champion Martin Castillo in a title defense Saturday at MGM Grand.
The 28-year-old Morales (47-2, 34 KOs) is coming off his second loss in just over two years – the only two setbacks of his career – to Marco Antonio Barrera, a man Pacquiao (39-2-2, 31 KOs) punished in an 11th-round TKO in 2003.
Morales, a native of Tijuana, Mexico, barely has been challenged aside from Barrera, whom he beat in the first of their three fights in 2000. Prior to his latest loss in November, Morales had held both the WBC featherweight and super featherweight crowns.
Morales will have little time to adjust to the bright lights of the ring before Pacquiao begins his onslaught in what is sure to be an old-fashioned brawl between the top two ranked figures in the division.
?Manny Pacquiao is a warrior who has a lot of power,? Morales said. ?I know that he has confidence because he already fought Barrera and (Juan Manuel) Marquez but we are very, very different. There is a lot of difference between us and those other fighters.
?I know he is a warrior; people from those countries are very strong people, a very strong person to fight, but a Mexican never goes back. We are going to be in front of him all night. We are going to win this fight.?
Pacquiao, a two-time champion from the Philippines, is generally regarded as the class of the super featherweights and has garnered the reputation on a series of brutal victories since his last loss in 1999. His latest triumph was proof of the damage his speed and power game can cause.
The 26-year-old pounded Fahsan Por Thawatchai, known to most as ?3K Battery,? into a fourth-round TKO. Pacquiao knocked down his opponent four times, thrilling the home crowd.
Just a 5-6 southpaw, Pacquiao consistently has shown the ability to get inside opponents with blinding speed.
Just two of his last 11 bouts – during which Pacquiao has gone 9-0-2 – have lasted more than six rounds. Those two featured his win over Barrera in November 2003, in which Barrera?s corner threw in the towel, and a draw with Marquez last May, in which Marquez survived three first-round knockdowns.
Controversy surrounded the draw with Marquez, but Pacquiao?s corner is confident its fighter was the victor and the pounding of ?3K Battery? just seven months later was the perfect follow-up statement.
?Pacquiao knocks (Marquez) down three times, but for some strange reason one of the judges forgot how to add,? Pacquiao?s promoter Murad Muhammad said. ?That?s OK because controversy makes our sport. We feel we beat Marquez.?
With that behind him, Pacquiao is set to solidify his status as the man to beat in the division.
?This is a big opportunity for me,? he said. ?I am ready for this fight. Don?t miss it, just watch.?
On the undercard, Castillo (27-1, 16 KOs) will be making his second title defense when he takes on Puerto Rico native Eric Morel (35-1, 18 KOs), a former flyweight champ.
Castillo, a 28-year-old Mexico native, won the belt from Hideyasu Ishihara last May and earned a convincing unanimous decision over Alexander Munoz in December to retain the crown.
