MANNY Pacquiao acknowledged Erik Morales is a skillful fighter, a superb counter puncher who gives his opponents trouble inside the ring.
Even his famed trainer, Freddie Roach, admitted this. But with all the praises the two had on Morales, Pacquiao still insists he is far better than the crafty Mexican pug.
Pacquiao, who hails from General Santos City, said in order to beat Morales all he need are to train hard, use his jab and displays his natural fighting style.
“I am going to train much harder and I will be more focused during training and in preparations for the fight,” Pacquiao told Fightnews.com during a promotional tour of his coming bout with Morales in Las Vegas.
The tour, which also had Morales in the entourage, of course, kicked off Saturday and will end on Thursday.
The two fighters slug it out in a rematch on January 21 in Las Vegas.
During their first match last March, Morales hacked out a close decision win over Pacquiao, who was fighting with just one good eye after suffering a cut in the fifth round.
Morales showed excellent boxing skills in beating Pacquioao the last time out, although the Filipino warrior came close to knocking out the Mexican in the last round.
This time, Roach vowed it would be a different Pacquiao come fight night.
“We are going to train much harder because this is the guy who beat us. We have a better attitude. I mean competitively, we are going to be more focused,” Roach said.
Pacquiao said he would also use his jab to rattle Morales and control of the fight.
“I learned to fight at a proper distance from him. I learned that my distance last time wasn’t the best,” said Pacquiao, who is coming off an impressive victory over Velazquez last September.
Morales, on the other hand, lost his last match, against Zahir Raheem who beat on points.
Morales is known to bounce back after a loss, which he proved against Pacquiao following his defeat to Marco Antonio Barrera.
Pacquiao should be ready this time, though, and one thing going for him in their next fight is that he will be using his favorite Reyes gloves.
