LAS VEGAS — Erik Morales, future Hall of Fame inductee, apologized to the Filipino people yesterday.
Sorry, he said, but there’s nothing he could do about it. He’s coming in twice as sharp and prepared as he was last year.
In short, he will be just too good for Manny Pacquiao.
“The jab will be there, no matter what they say they would do, only it would be twice as quick,” Morales, bright-eyed, ruddy of cheek, explained through an interpreter at the tail end of yesterday’s press preview for his Jan. 21 (Sunday in Manila) rematch against Pacquiao.
Unlike last year, when he met the foreign media wearing a thick jacket, looking weak and frail, Morales showed up in a plain woolen sweatshirt appearing ready to promptly bang it up with Pacquiao, whom he beat in their first encounter.
Minutes earlier, Pacquiao spoke in English to steal the show while thanking the promoters, host Steve Wynn, his countrymen, his friend President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other Filipino politicians coming to back him up in his quest for immortality against Morales.
Built-in superiority
Morales, in quietly explaining his built-in superiority, repeated what his manager Fernando Beltran had told the Inquirer upon their arrival here — that the result of the 12-round rematch on Saturday would not be too different from last year’s — that Morales would emerge the winner.
The prevailing confidence in the Mexican camp was fueled by its claim that, while Team Pacquiao said it had learned from its mistakes, Morales would be improving on his tested victory formula. He would be way ahead after improving on his winning ways.
“I just can be where I want to be inside the ring, I can do whatever I want to do inside there,” said Morales to stress his multi-dimensional advantage over Pacquiao, who is generally perceived to be a one-track slasher.
“I’m in great shape, mentally and physically,” Morales added. “I fight a different fight, I fight better.”
Of course, it’s no secret that the southpaw Pacquiao has worked overtime, real hard, to make adjustments and boost his skills that could now include a counterattack right out of a weave or a duck, unlike last time when he was often caught retreating frantically.
All that, conceded Morales, was to be expected from a loser.
Makings of a classic
“But they would be making a mistake if they based their hopes and plans on what happened last time when I lost against Zahir Raheem,” Morales explained.
For his part, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said “The Battle” had the makings of a classic.
“No chess games, Morales and Pacquiao will bring in their A-game, everything,” the fabled prizefight impresario quipped.
Pacquiao was described by promoter Gary Shaw as the only foreign fighter who can speak straight English.
Pacquiao greeted Mexican fans in Spanish — muchas gracias and expect a gran pelea — to the delight of a television crew from Tijuana, Morales’ birthplace.
