Mexican superstar Erik Morales revealed he learned a very important thing during his first fight with Manny Pacquiao and that is the Filipino sports hero doesn’t have the kind of punch to knock him out.
That is no less than a source of confidence and morale-booster for Morales in predicting a victory over Pacquiao in their keenly-awaited rematch dubbed as “The Battle!” on January 21, 2006 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Everyone had been saying how he has been knocking all these guys out and putting them down. That was what I was looking for; to see how strong he really was. In the first round when he hit me, I figured out that this guy wasn’t really that strong and he didn’t have the kind of punch to knock me out,” said Morales in recalling his March 19, 2005 encounter with Pacquiao.
Citing one of Pacquiao’s weaknesses he found out, Morales said he won’t give his opponent any room for offensive and that he will keep on pressing the attack button to force Pacman to back up just like in their first bout.
“I think the first thing about the fight during the first fight was my attack. Whenever I attacked him, he went backward and he didn’t know what to do. I don’t think he’s going to learn how to do it any better than from the first time. His problem is not going forward because he is good coming forward. But his problem is going backward and that is what I will do (make him back up),” said Morales.
Morales expressed confidence of defeating Pacquiao in their return bout which he considers as the most significant fight of his career.
“I think that at this junction of my career, I would say that this is the most important fight. But later on when I am done with my career, we’ll look back onto the ones that really were the most important and which ones were not. But right now, yes, it definitely is,” said Morales.
“When you are fighting a guy from another country, your whole country is behind you. They expect you to give a great fight and to win, to beat this guy. That is what I am going to try to do,” added from former three-division world champion from Tijuana, Mexico.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, said nothing really surprised him during his first fight Morales except for the Mexican’s skill.
“He is very good and he is really a counter puncher,” admitted Pacquiao.
Pacquiao said though this time he is bent on taking control of the match using his well-sharpened jabs.
“I will control him with my jab this time around and I will use my natural fighting style with it,” said the General Santos City fighter.
“I am going to train much harder and I will be more focused during training and in preparations for the fight. On January 21, you will see the real Manny Pacquiao in the ring.
