DAVE MORETTI and Paul Smith, two of the three judges in the first Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales encounter, have been reappointed to the rematch between the Filipino ring icon and the Mexican legend on January 21 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, (January 22 in Manila).
The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday also appointed Kenny Bayless to referee “The Battle,” the 12-round super featherweight bout that gives the winner the right to face Marco Antonio Barrera, the reigning World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation 130-pound champion.
Jerry Roth was also tabbed as the third judge, joining fellow Nevada-based arbiters Moretti and Smith—who both scored in favor of Morales, 115-113, allowing “El Terrible” to post a unanimous decision victory over “PacMan” in their first encounter on March 19, 2005, at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, also in Las Vegas.
The other judge in the first fight, Chuck Giampa, also saw it 115-113 in favor of Morales.
Bayless, known for his prefight instruction “What I say you must obey,” was the referee in the third Barrera-Morales fight in November 2004 that Barrera won, taking away Morales’ WBC super featherweight title. He takes over from Joe Cortez, the third man in the ring in Pacquiao-Morales I.
Besides Barrera-Morales III, other big fights Bayless has officiated are the Roy Jones Jr.-Antonio Tarver bout in September 2003 and the Bernard Hopkins-Oscar De La Hoya encounter in September 2004.
Meanwhile, Morales said he’s looking forward to the rematch with Pacquiao “to show his fans that he can still fight and defeat the best fighters in the world.”
“I know I let a lot of people down with my last performance,” the three-time world champion said, referring to his most recent loss to Zahir Raheem, on boxlatino.com.
He also said he expects the rematch with Pacquiao, a two-time world champion himself, to be even better than the first.
“Now we know each other better and know what each is capable of doing. I think the fans will get a great fight and something to remember for a long time,” Morales told local radio during a live interview Sunday night from his training camp in Queretaro, Mexico.
He admitted their first encounter was very tough, very intense and very competitive thru the 12 rounds, but felt he was able to dictate the pace and handle the Filipino’s power and speed very well by taking advantage of his size.
