Distractions can be as deadly as a time-honored feint, but Manny Pacquiao believes he didn’t know how to detect them in time to avoid the consequences last March in a loss to Erik Morales.
A bad cut above one eye also might have had a lot to do with Pacquiao’s defeat. If lessons about sidestepping the anarchy attached to any big fight were learned, however, Pacquiao’s chances in a rematch probably improve.
The rematch, at least, appears to be a lock.
An HBO twinbill Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles looks like the opening sales pitch for Pacquiao-Morales II. Pacquiao (39-3-2, 31 KOs) faces Hector Velazquez (41-10-1, 30 KOs) of Mexico, and Morales (48-2, 34 KOs) meets Zahir Raheem (26-1, 16 KOs) of Philadelphia in 130-pound bouts.
Injury or upset makes the card more dangerous than a news conference, but – if all goes as planned – the exchange of punches should generate a lot more interest than the same old questions and answers.
Of the two bouts, Pacquiao’s is the most interesting, in part because it his first since the Morales loss and a subsequent management change – promoter Gary Shaw is in and Murad Muhammad is out.
Pacquiao’s compelling story includes growing up in a region of the Philippines haunted by guerrilla warfare. Pacquiao, who says armed bodyguards protect him at home, knows about guerrillas. But boxing’s often-notorious management was a threat of a different sort.
Throughout the days before he faced Morales, tension was evident. Muhammad even moved into Pacquiao’s suite at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, forcing the fighter into smaller accommodations.
The new digs didn’t matter to Pacquiao as much as what the move said about Muhammad’s respect for him. Trainer Freddie Roach says Pacquiao often sleeps on the floor anyway. He’s more comfortable there. It’s what he’s used to.
Nonetheless, Muhammad’s suite grab set off more grumbling that was just another distraction among many.
In planning for Velazquez, Roach initially wanted Pacquiao to train at Central Boxing, a gym near downtown Phoenix.
Roach, who worked with Mike Tyson at Central, wanted to avoid the crowds of adoring Filipino fans who jammed his Los Angeles gym before the Morales loss.
But Roach’s commitments to other fighters forced him to stay in Los Angeles. Instead, he closed the gym for workouts.
It was the first step toward managing distractions, which are inevitable. In one form or another, they will be there in a Morales rematch.
In a conference call last week, Pacquiao used the word “focus” more often than an optometrist. For anybody who listened, there have been a lot of jokes about Pacquiao’s reliance on the clich?.
But if he does it as often as he said it, a Morales rematch might belong in a frame reserved for the classics.
