This past Saturday night on HBO Championship boxing, fans got to see the interim fights that both Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao had en route to the highly anticipated rematch with each other scheduled for January 21st, 2006.
On September 10th when both Pacquiao and Morales were expected to win their fights, Manny did just that, but Erik Morales just could not seem to find his groove.
Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (40-3-2, 32 KO’s) faced Hector Velazquez, (41-11-2, 31 KO’s). Velazquez who was coming off of five straight victories seemed to be in good shape and eager to get things going. In round number one, Velazquez managed to land some good right hands to the head, which managed to win him that round and also seemed to bother Pacquiao. Pacquiao came back in the second round and hurt Velazquez with his right hand and from that round on Pacquiao kept the pressure on, firing and landing combinations. Although Velazquez showed heart and counter punched well in the early rounds, clearly he was losing steam fast.
Eventually, Pacquiao managed to take total control in the sixth round with explosive combinations landing towards the end of the round. By outworking Velazquez, Pacquiao managed to catch him just at the end of the round with a series of straight lefts than a right that send Velazquez crashing to the canvas at the bell. Although Velazquez beat the count and managed to climb to his feet, he was seriously hurt and by the authority of referee Dr. Lou Moret, was no longer allowed to continue. The fight was officially stopped 2 minutes and 59 seconds into round number six giving Pacquiao the TKO victory. At the time of the stoppage, RSR had the score unofficially at 49-46 in favor of Pacquiao.
The outcome was drastically different for Erik Morales. Morales (48-3, 34 KO’s) was matched against the slick boxing, fleet footed, Zahir Raheem, (27-1, 16 KO’s) and for Morales’s first fight at the 135 pound limit, Raheem gave Erik all he could handle.
From the start of round number one Raheem frustrated Morales by moving and ducking his punches and firing accurate counters. Although Raheem seemed to have a big issue with his footing (slipping and falling down numerous times), Morales was not able to capitalize and by round number five, Raheem hurt Morales with a right hand. Morales almost went down, but was rescued by the ropes and although he was hurt, Raheem refused to make an attempt to close the show letting the round come to an end.
By round number nine Raheem had pilled up the points by staying active and connecting with counter shots to the head of Morales. Cleary ahead on points, Raheem decided to take rounds ten and eleven off and gave Morales an opportunity to climb back into the fight. In end of round eleven, Raheem was hurt by Morales and appeared to let his right hand touch the canvas. Referee John Shorle did not call it a knockdown thus the round was most likely scored 10-9 Morales other than 10-8. Either way, it would not have made a difference as Raheem came out and outboxed Morales in the final round. All three judges scored the bout overwhelmingly in favor of Raheem who took home the WBC International Lightweight Title. Unofficially, RSR scored the bout 116-112 for Raheem.
Initially the thought was that if either Pacquiao or Morales lost their respected matches on this night that the highly anticipated rematch between these two fighters would be derailed. That folks, does not seem to be the case. In fact, during the post fight press conference, Bob Arum stated, “The rematch is still on and set for January 21st 2006, the contract is set and both fighters are excited to give the fans what they want”. Both fighters, who were also present at the press conference, verbally validated Mr. Arum’s statements by agreeing to the media that their rematch will go on as planned. Good news for both fighters, great news for fans.
Also on the card Light Flyweights, Eric Ortiz (24-5-1, 16 KO’s) and Brian Viloria (18-0, 12 KO’s) battled for Ortiz’s WBC Light Flyweight title. The “Hawaiian Punch” as Viloria is known, provided the biggest punch of the night by dropping Ortiz in the first round with a hard right hand directly on the chin that sent the 11,000 fans in attendance buzzing. The victory gave the undefeated Viloria his first world title and kept his undefeated record in tact.
In a Bantamweight battle, Rey Bautista (16-0, 12 KO’s) squared off against winless Felix Flores Murillo (0-4). Buatista looked sharp and hurt Murillo twice in the second round. In round number three, Bautista took total control eventually knocking Murillo out capturing the victory.
In a Light Middleweight fight, Vanes Martirosyan (3-0, 1 KO) fought a six round contest against Gerardo Cesar Prieto (4-2-1, KO’s). This bout was a landslide as Martirosyan looked good using his jab effectively and landing clean combinations. All three judges as well as RSR scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Martirosyan.
With more Lightweight action, David Rodela (2-1-1, 2 KO’s) faced Hector Manuel Leyva (4-3, 3 KO’s) the fight went into the final (fourth round) and Leyva, who was in total control, took the victory by way of knock out. RSR had the bout scoredat 30-27 in favor of Leyva at the time of the stoppage.
NOTE: The Urbano Antillon bout was scratched of the venue and did not take place.
Notables in the crowd were current IBF Super Middleweight Champion Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy, famed Attorney, Robert Shapiro who represented OJ Simpson and both Julio Cesar Chavez, SR and JR. were in the crowd as well.
