Swift and somewhat surprising momentum in talks last week for a third Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales bout include a date, Sept. 16, and an agreement on other details, yet leaves an inevitable question about who would be in Morales’ corner.
It’s hard to say exactly how much a change affected Morales on Jan. 21 in his first loss by knockout, but the dismissal of his dad as his trainer had to have had some impact.
In the weeks before Pacquiao’s dramatic 10th-round victory, Jose Morales complained to the Mexican press that his son wasn’t preparing properly. The switch to Jose Luis Lopez came about after an embarrassing loss in September to Zahir Raheem, but there was little time for a new trainer and a veteran fighter to develop any kind of relationship. There was no test run, no tuneup. There was only Pacquiao, at or near his prime.
In talking about a third fight last week before lightweight Jose Luis Castillo’s dull victory over Rolando Reyes Saturday night in El Paso, Morales promoter Bob Arum echoed Jose Morales’ criticism.
“Erik believes that he trained wrong,” Arum told reporters.
If the biggest culprit was in the corner and in the training camp, then it would seem that Lopez is out of a job. But who’s next? The proud Morales has been fighting for a long time. Until Pacquiao II, his dad was there for him. Erik Morales had said it was time for a change, a new perspective. He also said his dad has been battling diabetes.
At this late stage, however, another shuffle – a second new trainer in two fights – might be tough on Erik Morales, especially if he chooses to go straight to a second Pacquiao rematch without a tuneup.
There’s a long-running debate about whether fathers should train their sons. But perhaps the Morales family is an exception.
Maybe, Jose Morales knows best.
Brief After she was honored last week in Cancun as the World Boxing Council’s Female Boxer of the Year, Laila Ali said she wouldn’t raise her children to be boxers. “I’m crazy, but I hope my kids are sane,” she said.
