IF ONLY Manny Pacquiao could be stretched on a medieval torture rack from a height of 5-6 ? to, say, 6-3. If only his
appetite for such Filipino fare as beef nilaga, beef caldereta and beef kare-kare was so ravenous that he could pack on another
90 pounds and still retain that ripped musculature.
But Pac-
quiao is not going to wake up Saturday and find himself as tall as an NBA shooting guard. And although he apparently likes beef
dishes, he is not going to consume an entire cow between now and then. For that matter, neither is his Mexican opponent, Erik Morales, who has a tendency to put on weight but not that much.
After another desultory week of heavyweight boxing that served to illustrate the dangerous degree to which the sport’s flagship division is listing, along come two downsized scrappers to remind us just how entertaining a good fight can be even if it doesn’t involve large, lumbering men.
Pacquiao (42-3-2, 32 KOs), who just might be the most exciting fighter on the planet, and the best at any weight this side of Floyd Mayweather Jr., takes on Morales (48-4, 34 KOs) in a much-anticipated rubber match Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Pacquiao’s WBC International super featherweight title will be on the line in the 12-round affair, not that that matters much. This slugfest is about much more than possession of a shiny,
insignificant trinket.
The suggested retail price of $49.95 for the HBO Pay-Per-View telecast will seem like a bargain to the unfortunate few who shelled out $44.95 to see the ghostly apparition of 44-year-old Evander Holyfield (40-8-2, 26 KOs) score a disputed decision over Fres Oquendo (26-4, 16 KOs) Friday in San Antonio, or even to those who saw IBF heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko (47-3, 42 KOs) take out Calvin Brock (29-1, 22 KOs) in seven rounds the following night in Madison Square Garden on regular HBO.
In their first meeting, on March 19, 2005, Morales got the better of Pacquiao in winning a unanimous decision. On Jan. 21, the Filipino national hero redeemed himself with a 10th-round TKO of “El Terrible.”
Both bouts were action-packed, which almost certainly will be the case again.
“I must win,” said Pacquiao, 27, who turned pro at 16. “Our fight is bigger than the two of us because we carry more into the ring than most other fighters. We carry the heart and soul of our people, the pride and honor of our nations. The pressure on us is enormous.”
