12 days of coverage of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales trilogy.
Beginning today, TigerBoxing will run 12 days of coverage of the thrilling trilogy between champions Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales.
Let’s flashback to the days just before Pacquiao vs. Morales, the original, which took place on March 19, 2005 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada…
CAN MORALES-PACQUIAO LIVE UP TO THE HYPE? By Shawn Krest
Originally published on March 17, 2005
If the hype is to be believed, the March 19 bout between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao will set the bar for the remaining nine months of 2005. Two aggressive punchers who have given fight of the year quality shows in the past will step in, each looking to avenge a 2004 disappointment.
Of course, if the hype was to be believed, 2004’s fight of the year would have been a toss-up between de la Hoya-Hopkins and Gatti-Dorin. Instead, last year’s award-winner was the rubber match between Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera—a bout that had Pacquiao’s fingerprints all over it.
Morales-Barrera III didn’t receive the pre-fight run as a fight-of-the-year candidate because Barrera’s stock had fallen, courtesy of a demolition at the hands of Pacquiao in late 2003.
Morales lost a heartbreaking decision in the epic battle with his arch nemesis, and went looking for a tough bounce-back match to wash the bad taste out of his mouth. Pacquiao fit the bill.
Pacquiao was looking for a bounce-back of his own. His quest to run a brutal gauntlet of 125-130 pound opponents hit a roadblock in May of last year. Juan Manuel Marquez was supposed to be the centerpiece of a Barrera, Marquez, and Morales run of victories for Pacquiao. With three knockdowns in the first round, Pacquiao seemed ready to begin negotiations with Morales between rounds.
Instead, Marquez rallied, dominated a tiring Pacquiao late, and the two had to settle for a hard-fought draw. Pacquiao became available for Morales after negotiations for a rematch with Marquez fell through. Ironically, instead of completing Pacquiao’s trilogy, the Morales bout may be the start of a similar run. Pac Man is still looking to avenge the Marquez decision, and, fresh off his victory over Morales, Barrera is looking for another shot at Pacquiao to prove that his performance in the first bout was a fluke.
The end result is that there will be two highly motivated fighters in the ring on March 19. Morales and Pacquiao’s fighting styles promise fireworks and carnage.
So what can go wrong?
For starters, it could end early. Twenty one of Morales’ 34 knockouts have occurred in the first three rounds. Sixteen of Pacquiao’s 27 came early. Combine their 2004 disappointments, and the recipe is there for a blazingly fast finish. Pacquiao nearly ended the Marquez bout in the first round, and Morales started slow against Barrera, losing five of the first six rounds. Morales is a strong finisher, but he needs to be around at the end to be able to reap the benefits of that advantage. The lefty-righty matchup and the face first style of both fighters also opens the door to cuts and butts which may cause an early stoppage.
One or both fighters may not be up to the challenge. Both have external issues that, despite pre-fight promises to the contrary, may keep them from being 100 percent on fight night. Morales took a great deal of punishment against Barrera a few months ago, and the mental impact may have being even more damaging. Jumping in against Pacquiao without a tune-up might be a bit too aggressive.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao has been known to live it up between training camps. When his February 26 rematch with Marquez was scratched, rumors were flying that he wouldn’t have been able to get into fighting shape by then anyway. He’ll also be fighting at 130, five pounds above his normal weight class. The leeway may provide Pac Man with a rationalization to skimp on training.
Strategy may also derail the fight of the year. Morales is just two years older than Pacquiao but has an eternity of accumulated damage. He fought three twelve round bouts last year, including the brutal Barrera bout. Pacquiao’s six bouts since October, 2002 have lasted a total of 36 rounds. While Morales is saying he’s ready to “go to war,” the best path to victory for El Terrible is to survive the early Pacquiao onslaught and wear him down in the late rounds. Would the ultra-aggressive Morales be willing to juke, jive and jab his way through the first half of the fight? He needs a win, and may need to sacrifice his crowd-pleasing style to insure one.
The blow-up over the brand of gloves may be evidence that Morales is looking to survive Pacquiao’s power early on. Morales lobbied for a brand that had more padding around the knuckles, in part to neutralize the impact of his opponent’s punches. Also ebbing Pacquiao’s power is the weight limit. Pac Man started his career as a straw weight and was fighting at 122 as recently as summer, 2003. Morales has been fighting above 120 his entire career and is a veteran of a year and a half at 130. The padding around the fighters’ midsections may do more than the padding in the gloves to sap Pac Man’s power.
Ten months removed from the disappointment of the Marquez draw and with a December tune-up under his belt, Pacquiao is fresher. Morales is at his best when the bout reaches the life-or-death championship rounds. By taking the toughest available fight immediately after the biggest disappointment of his career, he has put himself in the same life-or-death situation.
Both fighters are in a situation where they respond best. Pacquiao finds himself in the same spot as he did when he blew out Barrera—at the start of an ambitious string of fights. A loss to Barrera has put Morales on the brink.
There are several reasons why we may be deprived of a fight that lives up to its reputation. There are many more reasons to believe that we’ll get what we’re looking for.
