?Confirmation?
With the managerial distractions that came from his former promoter Murad Muhammad behind him, Pacquiao was determined to pick up where he left off after being derailed somewhat by the loss to Erik Morales on March of 2005. Morales? loss to Zahir Raheem in the double-header that also featured Pacquiao knock-out Hector Velasquez for the WBC International super featherweight title did little to curb boxing fans? interest for a rematch between the two aggressive fighters.
In January 2006, almost a year after their first match, Pacquiao and Morales would do it again. This time there was no gloves stipulation and on Morales? side, his father and trainer Jose was also no longer in his corner. For the first time in his career Morales fought without his father by his side as ?El Terrible? fired his dad in the wake of the Raheem loss. Its happened before, Shane Mosley fired his dad after losses and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Roy Jones Jr. parted ways with his dads and trainers on their way to superstardom. It?s ironic really, how a lot these great fighters were trained by their fathers. You can add Joe Calzaghe and Nonito Donaire Jr. to that list of current boxers who were groomed by their fathers. It?s unfortunate though that a lot of these boxers tend to look elsewhere after losses, and in this case, it was Jose Morales who took the boot for the loss. Morales replaced his father with Jose Luis Lopez Sr. who had no previous big time fight credentials.
The fight was met with tremendous interest. There was no love lost either between Pacquiao and Morales as both camps traded verbal jabs and haymakers months before fight. Morales called Pacquiao out saying the Filipino was making childish excuses for losing to him. Morales also traded insults with Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach which only helped stir up the anticipation for the fight. Pacquiao is regarded as the good guy, but in this fight against Morales, he scrapped his ?nothing personal, I?m just doing my job? persona for an angrier and hungry fighter similar to a kid in school waiting for his shot to get back at a bully.
At the time of the fight Morales was 29 years old while Pacquiao was 27. Both men were around their prime ages as pugilists and what makes both boxers special is the fight inside both men. With a war looming, people came out to the Thomas & Mack arena on January 21, 2006 in anticipation of witnessing greatness. HBO commentator Jim Lampley likened the crowd inside the Thomas & Mack arena on fight night as one that can rival any fevered soccer stadium environment in Europe. And from the get-go when the National Anthems were sung, the atmosphere truly indicated that something special was about to unfold. Jennifer Bautista may not have been the best among the Philippine national anthem singers for Pacquiao?s fight but she surely gave one of the most inspired and spirited renditions of the anthem that got the Filipino crowd more amped up. International recording artist John Secada sang both the Mexican and American national anthems and received a tremendous reaction from the Mexican crowd as well.
Hall of Fame Trainer Emmanuel Steward who was also part of the HBO play-by-play crew remarked before the fight
?I?m just so impressed with this crowd here. I never thought I?d see this type of a crowd after Morales loss decisively in his last fight.?
Something definitely was in the air. This was as personal as it could get for any two great fighters in the ring and any two fan bases in the sport. The fight embodied what great rivalries were made of.
Since there were no titles on the line, Morales entered the ring first by virtue of losing a coin-toss. The Mexican crowd greeted their fighter with deafening cheers and applause while the Filipino crowd booed ?El Terrible? the way Yankees fans boo David Ortiz whenever he goes up to bat. Pacquiao received the same type of ovation from his fans when he entered the ring while the Mexican crowd reacted to him as if he invented ?Swine Flu?.
