LAS VEGAS – For all of those who had the shovels poised to bury Erik Morales’ career, forget about it. Not only is he still breathing, but the Mexican menace, aptly nicknamed “El Terrible,” is alive and kicking. And to prove it, he kicked Manny Pacquiao, a pint-sized punisher in his own right, all over the ring before a sellout crowd of 14,623 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night. Morales scored a decisive 12-round unanimous decision over Pacquaio to reestablish himself as the hottest boxer in the 130-pound division.
As for those who doubted him because of his flat performance, and loss, in his last fight against Marco Antonio Barrera?
“It’s a real pleasure coming back with this type of fight for the people,” Morales said.
For the 28-year-old Morales (48-2, 34 KOs), a three-time world champion, it was a reaffirmation that he is one of the top boxers in the game. His resume is filled with a who’s who of top-flight junior featherweights, featherweights and junior lightweights. The only blights on his record are the two losses to Barrera, and you could argue that he only deserves one loss.
It was clear from the start that Morales wanted to take command of the match and make a statement. He used his size and reach to his advantage, peppering Pacquaio with his jab and firing the right hand behind it.
“I was controlling the fight with my distance,” Morales said. “Sometimes I need to put a little flavor in the fight, so that’s why I stopped and exchanged punches.”
He swapped shots with Pacquaio in the 12th round and got buzzed, but even then it didn’t seen he was in danger of getting knocked out. Instead it was Pacquaio who looked the worse for wear, bleeding profusely from two cuts on his face. Pacquaio, who began his career 10 years ago at 106 pounds, said he didn’t think that moving up in weight to face Morales was a problem. Morales disagreed.
“He never touched me with a good left hand,” Morales said. “I really believe I was too big for him.”
Pacquaio (39-3-2, 30 KOs) couldn’t stick around very long at the postfight press conference because he had to get stitches for the long gash above his right eye. Morales opened it with a left and a clash of heads in the fourth round. It altered the course of the fight, and Pacquaio believes it may have affected the outcome.
“I couldn’t see out of my right eye, only my left eye for most of the fight,” he said.
That wasn’t the only thing that kept Pacquaio from seeing eye-to-eye with his promoter Murad Muhammad. In the ring immediately after the match, Freddie Roach, Pacquaio’s trainer, could be seen shaking Pacquaio’s gloves at Muhammad. Roach blamed the type of gloves that Pacquaio wore as partly responsible for the loss.
Muhammad had agreed to using “Winning” brand of gloves, which Morales prefers, in the contract for the bout. Pacquaio prefers wearing “Reyes” gloves, which have less padding. Roach said Pacquaio was never consulted about the gloves before the contract was signed. He called the “Winning” gloves pillows. Pacquaio’s punches certainly didn’t have much impact on Morales.
Pacquaio and Roach have been trying to squeeze Muhammad out of the picture. Pacquaio signed with a different group of managers, including Shelly Finkel, and they tried as best they could to keep Pacquaio clear of Muhammad. But all the parties could be stuck with each other because Muhammad still has more matches left on his contract with Pacquaio.
Pacquaio said he wants to remain at junior lightweight and has no interest in returning to featherweight. Of course Morales will remain at junior lightweight. The two choices facing him immediately are a rematch with Pacquaio or a fourth match against Barrera, which is turning into a TV series.
“I will let the people tell me what they want,” Morales said.
