HOLDING MINIATURE flags of their respective countries, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Erik Morales of Mexico began the promotional tour of their Jan. 21, 2006 rematch when they were presented to the press Saturday afternoon (Sunday morning in Manila) at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao said the outcome of the highly-anticipated rematch at the Thomas and Mack Center “is going to be different” as he cited the hideous cut that he suffered and the internal problems that he endured during the first fight with Morales last March 19 at the MGM Grand.
Morales, who carved out a unanimous decision, said he will prove his detractors wrong in the second meeting because he will claw back to contention with a convincing victory over the Filipino following a lackadaisical showing against Zahir Raheem last September at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“A lot of people think I am already on the way down because of the loss to Raheem,” Morales said through an interpreter. “But I underestimated him.”
Pacquiao and Morales are going to meet again on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) this time at the Beverly Hills Hotel. After the afternoon affair, Pacquiao will confer with some of his handlers and take the Philippine Airlines flight to Manila.
Pacquiao is guaranteed a purse of $2 million and a big slice of the pay-per-view sales that should get past the 350,000 buys that was posted in their first fight.
While Morales is coming off an unimpressive performance, Pacquiao was devastating in his last bout against another Mexican Hector Velazquez, who gave up in the sixth round after taking a severe beating late in that round.
Pacquiao is heading to training camp in Cebu as soon as he arrives in the country and by the first week of December, he’d already be back again in the US. Boxing man Wakee Salud is eagerly awaiting his arrival there because two gyms, his own training center and the famed Antonio L. Aldeguer gym will be the site of his workouts.
