What we saw in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 21, was not simply a victory by Manny Pacquiao, though it was certainly that. It was an impressive, shocking performance, and an outcome which many predicted, but few expected. There is no praise too high for what Pacquiao accomplished in becoming the first man to knock out the great Erik Morales.
What we really saw was the end of the line for a terrific champion, the culmination of a career that produced epic fight after epic fight. The signs were there beforehand. They had been there for some time, in fact, and Morales knew it. The loss to Zahir Raheem last September; the fact that Morales took that fight at 135 pounds when he had been a featherweight his whole career; the firing of his father as his trainer; and then the look in his eyes in the days leading up to the rematch with Pacquiao. Morales is a defiant fighter, the type who likes to feel it is himself against the world. That’s where his desire to trade big punches, even while shaken, wobbled or in trouble, comes from. You hit me, so what, he says, I’ll come right back. You can’t hurt me. No one can hurt me. He is the type to pose for photos with an angry countenance. He rarely smiles in public.
And yet, as the HBO cameras patrolled his dressing room, as we watched “El Terrible” walk to the ring, his eyes betrayed him. He knew he was no longer at his best. He knew he was up against a vicious opponent. He was scared. Still, he soldiered on like the brave warrior he is.
The first round was even, then Pacquiao hurt Morales with a number of straight left hands during the second. In retrospect, that was the beginning of the end for Morales. Although he went on to win the next three rounds, Morales had no answer for Pacquiao’s left hand and the focused Pacquiao continued to land devastating blow after devastating blow. After the fourth round, Morales’ nose was broken and quite swollen. Morales won the fifth with his jab, but it was becoming clear that Pacquiao was connecting with more damaging shots.
Pacquiao assumed control of the fight early in the sixth by landing aggressive combinations that left Morales no choice, but to cover up and pray for the best. After being stunned in the middle of the round, the final seconds saw Morales trapped in the corner, absorbing considerable punishment.
Erik was woozy from the ceaseless onslaught of power punches to his body and head, and, as fatigue set in, had trouble keeping his hands up long enough to throw the counter-combinations which made him famous. The final punch of the round, a Pacquiao left to the side of Morales’ head, sent the Mexican stumbling backwards along the ropes, and may have knocked him down if his momentum had not carried him into referee Kenny Bayless’ shoulder. A deep cut appeared over Morales’ right eye, and his eyes turned bloodshot as his handlers implored him to “do something.”
Morales tried. The valiant soul which fought through indescribable pain so many times before attempted to do so again. The unbreakable spirit which resides in Morales’ chest led him out for the seventh with an aggressive opening. He rallied early in the round, but Pacquiao’s underrated chin shook off Morales’ arm punches without so much as a blink, and the Filipino continued to land shots with more than enough power to knockout a lesser fighter. Between rounds, Morales instructed his cornermen to rub down his legs in an attempt to restore some of the feeling to his wobbly limbs.
Morales flurried again in the eighth, but by that point, even the most partisan of Mexican fans knew their hero would not triumph on this night. By the ninth, Erik was thoroughly exhausted, off balance and lunging with each attempted punch. The few punches he did land were ineffective, and Pacquiao kept advancing, applying pressure to his injured foe. The round ended with Morales dancing away from his pursuer, a tactic he has never before employed, and one which told everyone, from the man he was running from, to the raucous crowd which included Floyd Mayweather, JR., to the millions of fight fans watching on television, that “El Terrible” was finished.
“He’s all done,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach told his pupil after the ninth. “He’s all done.” The words were unnecessary. A knockout artist like Manny is always the first to know when his opponent is beaten.
“I think I had him sometime in the eighth round,” Pacquiao revealed after the fight. “I knew the body punches were wearing him down, and I knew that if I could keep landing them, I’d probably get him.”
Everyone could sense that something big was going to happen entering the tenth round. The great Morales, with his chin of stone and heart of fire, who had done so much just to prolong the fight to this point, was on his last legs as the bell called the men to action. A fresh and exuberant Pacquiao pounced on his prey immediately, going to the body with right hooks that sapped Morales of his remaining strength. The proud warrior attempted to fight back. He went to the well, as he’d done so often in the past, but this time he came up empty. The well was finally dry.
At the end, Erik’s exhaustion was such that he could not lift his hands from his sides as Pacquiao moved in for the kill. He went down for the first time in his brilliant career from a straight left hand with 50 seconds remaining in the round. Beaten and bloodied, Erik Morales rose on the count of nine, not yet ready to concede defeat. His will only bought him another 10 seconds, though, as Pacquiao backed Morales into the ropes and pummeled the three-time champion with rights and lefts that dropped Morales to the canvas for a second and final time with 30 seconds left in the tenth round. The referee immediately waved the fight off, signaling to all that Erik Morales was done.
After regaining his senses, Morales spoke to HBO’s Larry Merchant, saying that his body has worn down from the years of training and all the difficult fights. He spoke about taking a long rest before determining his future. At 29, he is young enough to do so and still return to the ring, but returning to his previous level of dominance is doubtful. Morales said he may come back as a lightweight, or he may come back at junior lightweight. He may not come back at all. Morales may, upon reflection, realize that this is perhaps the best way for a warrior to go out, fighting like a champion until his body can no longer fight.
