A win by both Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales could raise the stakes a bit more when they look towards a possible rematch on Jan. 21 next year.
Or it could foul up both the fighters’ plans.
It’s definitely not a walk in the park as the Filipino and the Mexican fighters headline the “Double Trouble” card today (Saturday night in the US) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Out of the two, Pacquiao, definitely needs a win badly following a unanimous decision loss to Morales last March that laid doubts on whether or not the stunner of a win over Marco Antonio Barrera the previous year was a fluke.
But he’s not going to get back respect by losing to Hector Velasquez following an off-ring victory in the country to get away from the clutches of promoter Murad Muhammad and into the arms of Gary Shaw.
“Hector Velazquez is going to give it his all,” Velasquez said. “People who know me know that I am not an easy fighter, like they think. I am not going to disappoint the fans.”
But Velasquez does not own an impressive resume studded with five straight wins against unknown opponents, losing five in a row in a 10-loss tally that also has four knockouts against him. Overall, he carried a 42-10-2 mark.
Pacquiao weighed in at the superfeatherweight limit of 130, the weight as Velasquez.
Pacquiao is definitely looking forward to a fight against Morales (48-2, 34 knockouts), but the Mexican seems open to a wide variety of options.
Morales is now in the 135-pound division or the lightweight class and could stay there if he wants following the fight against foe Zahir Raheem (26-1, 16 knockouts), who tilted the scales at 133.
In the 135-lb category, Morales is in the league of Diego Corrales, Joe Luis Castillo, Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz. Should he return to 130, he will be pitted anew against Pacquiao or get a possible fourth fight against Barrera.
Neither of the two fights are for titles, but sanctioning fees with the World Boxing Council labelled the Morales-Raheem fight as for the International WBC lightweight championship and the Pacquiao-Velazquez match is for the International WBC super-featherweight title.
But promoter Bob Arum said the fans will expect tough fights, nonetheless, sans the prestige of bonafide titles.
“These guys are no walk in the park,” he said of the opponents for Morales and Pacquiao. “These are tough fighters. There is an obligation on our part to present competitive fights. People are paying money to see them. And HBO [which is televising the matches] expects that.”
The only true title fight is that of WBC light-flyweight champion Eric Ortiz (24-4-1, 16 knockouts) of Mexico City, who will put stake his title against Filipino-American Brian Viloria (17-0, 11).
