NOW IN his third week of training in the far-flung Mexican city of Queretaro, Erik Morales is keenly awaiting the arrival of two other topnotch sparring partners as he primes up for the much-anticipated rematch with Manny Pacquiao on Jan. 21, 2006 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Morales likewise made it clear that he is not taking a holiday break and would be spending Christmas and New Year’s Day with new trainer Jose Luis Lopez in the city located 200 kilometers northwest of Mexico City – and not with family and friends in Tijuana — as reported by the Mexican media yesterday.
Morales has been regularly sparring with Manuel Leyva and Mauro Gutierrez and is set to work out with former sparmates Steve Luevano and Wary Beltran.
Morales is eager to erase the stigma of his loss to Zahir Raheem last Sept. 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and a smashing win over the Filipino southpaw is foremost in his mind.
“I want people to forget that loss to Raheem,” Morales, a 7-5 underdog, was quoted as saying, refering to his 12-round unanimous decision defeat to the cat-quick American on the same night Pacquiao scored a sensational sixth-round knockout victory over Hector Velazquez.
Like Morales, Pacquiao is busy training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.
They almost checked in at training camp at the same time with Pacquiao arriving in the US on Dec. 3 and Morales in the last week of November.
Pacquiao turned 27 on Saturday without fanfare.
Last year, Pacquiao celebrated his birthday by distributing grocery items and cash in his hometown of General Santos City.
Despite scoring a masterful win over Pacquiao the fist time they met on March 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Morales has been installed the underdog by oddsmakers.
“Basta’t ensayo lang talaga ako dito. Talagang nagtitiis ako dahil first time kong hindi makakasama ang aking pamilya,” Pacquiao told the Bulletin.
