WHEN Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao met legendary Mexican Erik “El Terrible” Morales in their rematch last January, Morales was dropped twice for the first time in his career and lost by a 10th-round TKO.
Celebrated trainer Freddie Roach said that this time around, it will again end by the short route, but that the knockout “will come easier the second time around.”
Roach’s bold prediction was made in an interview with boxing writer Ace Freeman on the Fight Fan Web site.
He was quoted as saying he expects Pacquiao to knock Morales out in the late rounds again. “He’ll break him down and knock him out.”
The trainer noted that Morales had never been knocked out in his life and “thought it was impossible. It happened and now he knows it’s possible.”
Roach said Pacquiao, who is a celebrity in the Philippines, is not pressured by his status. In fact, Roach stressed: “He feeds off it and definitely enjoys it. He loves the people and he loves the audience and it really motivates him.”
Asked whether Pacquiao still had a burning desire to beat Morales once again, Roach replied that it’s “a must-win situation. There’s no doubt about it.”
But in a bizarre twist, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who is promoting the Grand Finale at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 18, said that win or lose, Pacquiao will continue to fight for Top Rank, raising serious questions over Pacquiao’s seven-fight deal with Golden Boy Promotions of Oscar de la Hoya—a pact he signed last month and got a $300,000 signing bonus.
There have been reports that Pacquiao also made a deal with Arum for a bigger amount raising the possibility of a legal battle between the promoters, who are bitter rivals with Pacquiao getting caught in the middle.
