Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales will make us forget everything that’s wrong with this troublesome game for a little less than an hour late Saturday night.
The disgraceful decisions. The preposterous practices of the selfish sanctioning organizations. The lack of uniformity among commissions. The managerial and promotional problems. The depressing sagas of all those broke boxers. The pay-per-view shows that weren’t worth $5, much less $50. All of it.
Because when Pacquiao and Morales meet in their rubber match, the junior lightweights will embody everything that’s right about boxing. They’re two unbelievably brave, resilient throwbacks who would just as soon be carried from the ring than lose. The fierce Filipino legend and the ever-determined Mexican warrior will be worth every penny of the $49.95 it’ll cost to watch them box in an HBO Pay-Per-View main event from UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, too.
And they’re fighting for their nations, not a meaningless championship in this non-title, 12-rounder.
“I want to make my country proud and make my fans happy,” Pacquiao (42-3-2, 33 KOs) said. “That’s why I must win. 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 the soul of our people, and the pride and the honor of our nations. The pressure on us is enormous, which is why I will be on the attack the second I hear the bell for round one.”
Pacquiao pressured Morales throughout their rematch on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas, another brutal brawl that left the iron-chinned Morales a technical knockout loser for the first time in his 13-year, Hall-of-Fame career. Morales (48-4, 34 KOs) narrowly won their first fight by unanimous decision on March 19, 2005, but Zahir Raheem (27-2, 16 KOs) dominated him in his following fight and Pacquiao punished him late en route to a 10th-round stoppage. That has left Morales’ critics questioning what he has left after those three wars with Mexican rival Marco Antonio Barrera, the two slugfests against Pacquiao and several other difficult fights.
The 30-year-old Morales maintains that his struggles with weight caught up to him during the Pacquiao rematch, a problem he has avoided this time by meeting weight limits throughout training camp.
“I don’t know how many more fights I’m going to have,” Morales said. “But believe me, I feel real good and we’ll find out how good I am (Saturday night). Then we’ll go from there.”
Hatton headed to AC?
An HBO doubleheader featuring Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo in separate 140-pound bouts on Jan. 20 is likely headed to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Hatton (41-0, 30 KOs) will try to regain his International Boxing Federation junior welterweight title from Colombia’s Juan Urango (17-0-1, 13 KOs) in the 12-round main event. The unbeaten British star stopped heavy favorite Kostya Tszyu (31-2, 25 KOs, 1 NC) to win the IBF belt 17 months ago in his native Manchester, but moved up to 147 pounds for his last fight, a close decision defeat of New York’s Luis Collazo (27-2, 13 KOs). Urango out-pointed Australia’s Naoufel Ben Rabah (24-2, 13 KOs) to win the title Hatton relinquished on June 30 in Hollywood, Fla.
Mexico’s Castillo (54-7-1, 47 KOs) will probably oppose Montreal’s Herman Ngoudjo (15-0, 9 KOs) in the co-featured fight. If Hatton and Castillo win, HBO’s plan is for them to meet sometime in the spring in what would surely be a “Fight of the Year” candidate.
The Jan. 20 show was originally scheduled for Jan. 13 in Atlanta, but site deals with representatives for Philips Arena and later the Paris Las Vegas didn’t materialize. Philadelphia’s Art Pelullo, Hatton’s promoter, wants to make him a gate attraction on the East Coast, but only approximately 6,000 fans attended the Hatton-Collazo card on May 13 at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Hatton routinely sold out the 20,000-seat Manchester Evening News Arena, but felt he had to fight in the United States to maximize his earning potential.
Ruiz returns to Germany
Fighting in Germany again was the last thing John Ruiz wanted to do after dropping a maligned majority decision to Nikolai Valuev, but he didn’t have a choice. The only way Ruiz (41-6-1, 28 KOs, 1 NC) can guarantee a rematch with the 7-foot Valuev is by defeating another unbeaten Russian, Ruslan Chagaev (21-0-1, 17 KOs), in their World Boxing Association elimination match Saturday in Dusseldorf. Ruiz, whose hug-and-slug style made him one of the least popular champions in heavyweight history, couldn’t get a rematch clause in his contract for the Valuev bout because Valuev (45-0, 33 KOs, 1 NC) was his mandatory challenger.
The two-time former WBA champ from Chelsea, Mass., lost on two scorecards against Valuev (116-113, 116-114), while a third judge scored the Dec. 17 fight in Berlin even (114-114).
Chagaev, a strong southpaw who now fights out of Germany, has a different promoter than Valuev, though. Wilfried Sauerland promotes Valuev, along with Don King. Klaus-Peter Kohl promotes Chagaev, and won a purse bid to stage the fight in Dusseldorf.
“I’m not looking past Chagaev,” Ruiz said. “He’s dangerous and likes to come right at you, but that’s my game. I still believe that I’m the best heavyweight in the world. When I return home with a win, I’ll be willing to fight any of the so-called world champions.”
The Chagaev fight will be Ruiz’s first without longtime cornerman/confidante Norman Stone. Ruiz and his volatile trainer parted ways after the Valuev fight, largely because the passionate Stone often created controversy on fight night, at press conferences and elsewhere. Manny Siaca Sr., a fellow Puerto Rican, now trains Ruiz.
Tony Cardinale, a Totowa native and Passaic Valley High School graduate, remains Ruiz’s attorney and adviser.
Daring Diaz recovering
The Evander Holyfield-Fres Oquendo fight certainly wasn’t worth the $44.95 FOX Sports Net charged to view it a week ago from San Antonio, but Oscar Diaz definitely gave his hometown fans their money’s worth.
The courageous contender provided an Arturo Gatti-like performance against Golden Johnson, a supposedly shop-worn welterweight who looked better than ever.
Diaz, a part-time West Paterson resident, fought most of the bout with a nasty cut over his right eye, yet nearly knocked out Johnson (25-7-3, 18 KOs) at the end of the seventh round. Still, someone should’ve stopped the brutal bout before Diaz started the 11th round with the cut bleeding badly, his left eye swollen shut and his right hand hurt to the degree Diaz didn’t throw it.
Referee Ruben Carreon mercifully halted the fight with a defenseless Diaz (25-2, 12 KOs) still on his feet, at the 58-second mark of the 11th.
“The kid just has so much heart and he kept asking for one more round,” said Paterson native Lou Duva, Diaz’s manager and an International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer who worked his corner. “But I was thinking with my heart, instead of thinking with my head. I probably should’ve stopped it earlier.”
Diaz, who’ll take a long rest, needed 10 stitches to close the cut, but didn’t suffer any facial fractures and didn’t break a bone in his right hand.
But while winning fans for fighting so bravely, the 23-year-old Diaz destroyed much of the progress he made in the 2? years since suffering his first professional defeat. He had won eight straight bouts after a 10-round points loss to Ebo Elder (22-3, 14 KOs), and was most impressive in his previous fight, a 12-round victory over New York’s Chris Smith (20-3-1, 13 KOs) five months ago.
Reach Keith Idec at 973-569-7073 or [email protected].
