 No Excuses Needed, It's Pac Man Fever
By Steve Kim (January 23, 2006) Photos © HoganPhotos.com
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Manny Pacquiao had his best training camp since 2003 (when he was preparing for Marco Antonio Barrera); Questions about his purse, comp tickets and hotel room were no longer present with the expulsion of his former promoter Murad Muhammad; and lastly, he got to sport his preferred Cleto-Reyes gloves on Saturday night in his rematch with Erik Morales, who had defeated the Filipino icon last March.
The result?
An impressive 10th round dismantling of the usually stout and immovable Morales.
No alibis are needed this time around as he put together his most complete performance as a professional. No titles were on the line at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas, but the 'Pac Man' firmly entrenched himself as one of the premier fighters in the world pound-for-pound.
The level at which he was able to dominate Morales late even surprised him a bit.
"The first fight I believed I would beat him and knock him out," he said at the post-fight presser. "But in the early rounds I suffered a big cut on my right eye. So the second time, I beat him but I didn't expect to knock him out."
He had to overcome some rough waters in the early rounds though. For every salvo that Pacquiao threw at Morales, it was returned in kind by sharp, hard, accurate counterpunches. More than once he seemed to be hurt by the Tijuana native in fierce exchanges that brought the crowd to it's feet on numerous occasions.
"Actually, I wasn't hurt in the first and third rounds," he countered. "I was just off-balance; my foot was not in the right position."
After five heated frames, Pacquiao found himself down on all three scorecards. But unlike last March, where Pacquiao was just another 'one-armed bandit' in the
desert, this time Morales was facing a multi-faceted fighter with many dimensions. In the past, Pacquiao was as predictable as the black guy always being the first
to get gunned down in a war movie, but under the tutelage of trainer Freddie Roach, he has added to his repertoire.
"I am telling you, Freddie Roach, maybe the single greatest trainer in all of boxing," bellowed a jubilant Gary Shaw, who promotes Pacquiao. "He laid out a gameplan and Manny followed it."
Pacquiao, if he was a basketball player, is the baller who has now added a mid-range jumper to go with his collection of highlight reel dunks. In the past, his offense consisted of a jab-left-cross combo. But as the middle rounds set in this past weekend, he would begin to work the body consistently, employed a lead left cross, and his most effective weapon was a quick, cutting right hook, AKA 'Manila Ice'. It's a punch that most orthodox fighters have problems recognizing from a southpaw.
"That was the key punch because Morales couldn't see it coming and he didn't expect it," said Roach, who actually began implementing that weapon during the training camp leading into their bout with Hector Velasquez, realizing that to ever beat a Morales, they would need two hands. "And of course the body shots were key also. Manny never had a right-hook before but he's developing it, he's getting more confident, and he's getting better and better."
As the night wore on, Morales got wore out. He simply couldn't keep up with the torrid pace that Pacquiao set.
"I was worried the first three, four rounds," admitted Shaw, "but then he started to get in sync and the pistons started to fire away, it was spectacular."
Seeing Morales falter and fade down the stretch was like seeing a classic old car finally blow an engine after 500,000 miles on the odometer. Morales may have simply driven through too many rough roads. For him, the terrain has never been particularly smooth and he's never put it into cruise control. His past battles with Barrera (three), Zaragoza and now Pacquiao, may have simply caught up to this great soldier.
"From the first round he seemed very slow," said Roach's assistant trainer and head conditioner, Justin Fortune. "So Manny kept the pace; we knew he could keep a 15 round pace if he had to. We knew he could wear him down and that's exactly what he did."
On all three scorecards, Pacquiao would sweep rounds six through nine.
In the contract for this rematch there was a clause that stated in the event of a Pacquiao win, a rubbermatch would be in order. But in seeing Morales collapse in pieces to the canvas, you get the sense that his braintrust will do the humane thing and waive that stipulation. Arum would say afterwards that he would leave that decision up to his fighter, who was taken to the hospital for dehydration.
"We've got to rest a little, see what happens," said Finkel, when asked about the possibilities of not facing Morales next. And it's obvious what Pacquiao's next big fight would be. Another rematch with another Mexican star. "Logically, unless there's something else, we'd go after Marco Antonio Barrera. But we will honor the contract if Morales wants it."
Shaw, if he was in Arum's position, knows what tact he would take in regards to Pacquiao-Morales III: "Absolutely not. If anything, if I was Arum I'd say, 'Look, why don't you guys go take a fight somewhere and we'll see you after that.'"
Of course, his own fighter, Diego Corrales, was scheduled to face Jose Luis Castillo for the third time in eight months himself, but that's a different column for a different time. But the man who vanquished Morales thinks that 'El Terrible' is far from done.
"I think he can come back," said Pacquiao. "He has a lot of time, maybe three years more."
There's no question that Pacquiao has plenty of gas left in his own tank. For all his accomplishments, he's still only 27. And we may have not seen the best of Pacquiao quite yet.
"It was great, but I know he can be even better," says Finkel. "The first four, five rounds he wasn't as good as he can be. I think time will show he can be better."
GLOVE STORY REDUX
OK, I think it's pretty clear that gloves do make a difference.
"Look at his face," said Roach, when asked if wearing Cleto-Reyes gloves gave them an advantage. "I mean they're 'puncher's gloves', there's no doubt about that. I thought he was going to wear Reyes, too. If I was his trainer I would've had my guy wear Reyes because there's definitely a difference in the gloves.
"We fought in men's gloves tonight. And that's the key ingredient to 'Manila Ice'."
THE IDOL
Move over Pancho Villa, step aside Flash Elorde; you guys were great, but with his recent achievements, Manny Pacquiao is now the standard bearer in the pantheon of Filipino pugilists.
Since bursting onto the scene by taking the IBF 122-pound title from Lehlo Ledwaba in 2001, he has knocked out Barrera, had a disputed draw with Juan Manuel Marquez and became the first and only fighter to stop Morales.
But his win last night wasn't just about a boxer, but a country. It wasn't only Pacquiao that was victorious on Saturday night, but also the Philippines. No matter what political strife or econonomic and social conflicts may exist there, today, the Pinoys were a unified front on Saturday night.
"I saw people crying in the stands," said fellow Filipino Brian Viloria, who was the color analyst for the Solar Sports Network, which beamed the fight back to the Philippines. "The pride was just so overwhelming and it wasn't just Manny who won, it felt like the whole country of the Philippines won against a great fighter in Morales and his country of Mexico. Everybody is just happy - not just for Manny - but for the whole country winning."
The crowd, which topped out at over 14,000, was filled with the frenzied partisans of both Pacquiao and Morales. But for the first time in recent memory, Mexican supporters may have been out-numbered on the west coast. Government officials and other dignitaries of the Philippines were a part of the loud and passionate throng that supported Pacquiao.
"I'm so ecstatic right now," said Viloria, who holds the WBC 108-pound belt and his also trained by Roach. "The energy there was in that lockeroom, I felt so happy for Manny. He worked so hard for this fight, I've never seen him work so hard, and he did everything Freddie asked him to do. And this is his prize, beating one of the best fighters in the past decade."
HOSPITAL WARD
You know the action is brutal when three of the four fighters who participated on the last two bouts of the night end up in the hospital.
Martin Castillo and Alexander Munoz - who put on a great fight in their own right - joined Morales at Valley Hospital. After getting sent to the canvas in round one, Castillo would fight his way back to retain his WBA super flyweight crown via split decision.
FINAL FLURRIES
Juan Manuel Lopez, who improved to 9-0 with 9 KOs by halting Jose Luis Caro in three is certainly a prospect worth watching....It was a great weekend for Filipino fighters, as Nonito Donaire would win on ShoBox and Jimex Jaca would register a KO on Saturday night's undercard....I like the new set-up of the Friday Night Fights studio.... BTW, is Teddy Reid about as unlikable as they come in boxing?.....
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E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com
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