IN BOWING to Manny Pacquiao by knockout in the Grand Finale on Sunday, Erik Morales treaded the beaten path that many other great fighters have taken before.
Driven by their desire for redemption, all-time greats and former world champions Jersey Joe Walcott, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Alexis Arguello sought out their tormentors for return bouts — with devastating results.
All, like Morales, got knocked out again and in even more explosive fashions.
Morales, who was forced into submission in the 10th round in his second showdown with Pacquiao on Jan. 21, went down for good in the third round of the final chapter of their trilogy.
This, after taking the measure of Pacquiao via unanimous decision in their first showdown on March 19, 2005.
Stopped by the invincible Rocky Marciano with a one-punch marvel in their first meeting on Sept. 9, 1952, in 13 rounds, Walcott kissed the canvas in the first round when they tangled anew on May 15, 1953. Marciano was the only heavyweight champion to retire unscathed.
Patterson, a natural light heavyweight, yielded the heavyweight crown to Sonny Liston in their first meeting on Sept. 25, 1962 via a first round knockout. Ten months later they clashed anew and Patterson again fell in the first round, boosting Liston?s reputation as a ring monster.
Ironically, Liston suffered the same fate against Muhammad Ali, regarded as The Greatest, right in his next two bouts.
Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, whipped the heavily favored but out-of-shape Liston, who did not answer the bell at the start of the seventh round on Feb. 25, 1964. Expected to do better in their second meeting, Liston instead went down in the first round, a victim of what?s now known as the phantom punch.
Nicaraguan Arguello, regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound and punch-for-punch boxers ever, was beaten by Aaron Pryor when he moved up to light welterweight in a bid to become the first man to win four crowns in four divisions. Arguello, who was ahead after 12 rounds, lost by TKO in 14 rounds.
On Sept. 9, 1983, the bigger, stronger Pryor again stopped Arguello in the first round.
Well, Morales, for all his ring exploits, may not be aware of these parallelisms.
Like these fighters, he was brave, cunning and daring. Like them, his spirit was willing. And like them he was thrown into the lion?s den, absorbing a terrible beating from Pacquiao.
