In the early hours of tomorrow morning, Pacquiao attempts to become only the second man after Marco Antonio Barrera to topple El Terrible. Forget fight of the year. This could be fight of the decade. The fact Pacquiao battered Barrera into submission adds to the intrigue. But it is not necessarily a pointer to the outcome.
Victories don’t always transfer in boxing, especially at the highest level, where the margin between winning and losing is paper thin.
Morales is a terrific boxer. His weakness, if that is the right word, is the machismo that runs through Mexican fighters.
The red mist comes down when the fists fly. And when Pacquiao fights, fists do fly. The fellow is like a pneumatic drill. Injin Chi with knobs on.
To have a chance of beating him you have to be strategic. Tactically Morales is not the brightest, often getting drawn into brawls when he does not need to.
What Morales does do properly is prepare. That could make the difference. He has been sparring with Victor Polo, who gave Scott Harrison all the trouble in the world recently.
Pacquiao’s sparring has not been so intense. Salvador Sanchez never sparred more than three rounds before a big fight then would come out and box for 15.
Maybe Pacquiao is like that.
It is difficult to argue with the methods of Pacquiao thus far. Like Barrera, he will seek to draw Morales into a brawl. Pacquiao is better equipped to play that game.
There won’t be much in it.
It is practically impossible to stop Morales, so expect this to go all the way, with Pacquiao edging a thriller on points.
