Prologue
We look at the fights that defined the career of Manny Pacquiao
The fights that occurred between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Erik “El Terrible” Morales between March of 2005 and November 2006 are simply legendary and began to imprint in the minds of US fans that the favorite son of the Philippines was a boxing star, those three fights would be the catalyst for everything else that was to come.
Born in the slums of Kibawe, Bukidnon, Philippines on December 17th, 1978. Manny grew up finding any way he could to make a living. One way it was reported was to sell cartons of stolen cigarettes on the streets.
Boxing lore has it that Erik Morales was born in a boxing gym in the city of Tijuana, in Baja California, Mexico. His father, Jose to had been a professional fighter. Ironically it was Erik’s mother who encouraged her son to enter the brutal sport-no mean feat in the crucible of the Mexican circuit.
No one disagreed that Morales had the better record or the better technique coming into that first fight on March 19th, 2005 in Las Vegas. Though many speculated that Morales was a “shot” fighter, at 29 he had been in so many wars, most recently concluding a rancorous trilogy against the popular and entertaining Mexican fighter Marco Antonio Barrera. Many believed the younger, fresher Pacquiao could beat Morales. Moreover, Pacquiao had beaten Barrera himself about two years before by TKO.
The First Fight
A frenetic pace was set by both men early. Morales gained traction in the opening rounds behind an effective jab and straight punches to the body and head of Pacquiao. Pacquiao, as has been his trademark throughout his career was to dart in and out with flurries, throwing quick successions of hooks to the body and head. Both men would beckon the other on after an exchange of punches challenging the other to hit them even harder with a wave of his gloves.
In the fifth round the two men clashed heads. This opened a significant cut over the right eye of Pacquiao and it would affect him for the rest of the fight.
The middle rounds were a technical street fight. Morales won most them by boxing Pacquiao who grew more and more desperate sensing the fight could be stopped at any moment due to the cut. By the 8th Morales had built a significant lead in punches landed.
The final rounds were trench warfare. With momentum shifting back and forth minute by minute between the two men, Morales by in large kept Pacquiao at range and thanks in large part to the cut was landing straight rights and right hook counter punches with more regularity. Morales could have been even more effective however he abandons what little defense he brings with his style whenever he is hit choosing instead to stand and trade.
The 12th Round
Between round 11 and 12 Morales’ head trainer his father Jose implored his son “Erik, you got the fight in the bag, please don’t get over confident, please be careful.” Though for better or worse Morales’ style does not afford him caution, his white trunks now pink, stained as it were by the blood of his foe the two men stood forward-facing and poured their last ounces of heart and determination into each punch. Pacquiao exhausted but unbowed swung in combination connecting on nearly every shot, halfway through the 12th round Morales ignoring his father inexplicably switched to southpaw to match Pacquiao’s stance and landed several hard lead right hooks! They traded bombs back and forth, there is no way to praise these two men enough for what they gave in this fight and in the last round.
Simply put it is legendary.
Morales won by unanimous decision.
Six months later in September 2005 Many Pacquiao rebounded with a TKO win over the tough Hector Velazquez. While Erik Morales lost to unheralded lightweight Zahir Raheem by a wide point decision.
The Second Fight
Ten months later Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao met again in January of 2006 at the sold-out Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus again in Las Vegas Nevada.
Needing a shakeup Morales fired his father and head trainer Jose and replaced him with the unknown Jose Luis Lopez Sr.
Pacquiao’s manager Murad Muhammad at the time of the first fight with Morales failed to ensure that he was not allowed to wear his preferred Cleto Reyes gloves. Hand made in Mexico and known as a ‘puncher’s glove’ due to the distribution of the padding believed to facilitate landing harder shots. Pacquiao’s team also claimed they had significant legal trouble distracting him from performing better the first time out.
Whatever the intangibles both men were focused, they would give no quarter to the other man and ask for none.
From the opening bell, both men behaved more disciplined. They acted with controlled aggression, Morales favored better punch selection still employing straight 1-2s, Manny showed significant improvement in footwork, head movement and varied his attack, he found more angles and worked the body.
Round three was brilliant! Both men began to open up. Manny seemed to have found his jab finally and on the back of that punch sprung his explosive barrage strafing the figure of Erik Morales. Morales continued to land the cleaner punches on Pacquiao though he walked through them with continual disdain.
Manny began to take command in the 6th round. He poured on the pressure with quick hands, angles and power and Morales was fading fast. Manny had slowly come up to light weight and though he weighed in two pounds under the limit compared to Morales seemed the stronger fighter. The sixth ended with a furious Pacquiao barrage backing Morales up to the ropes, I defy anyone to count how many punches Morales was hit with! He seemed to crumble under the pressure in the final seconds and tumbled toward referee Kenny Bayless who almost seemed to hold the Mexican warrior up.
Morales came back and salvaged some of the seventh rounds, yet his legs were failing him. It was a shop-worn Erik Morales that came out for the 9th and 10th round. Morales tried to establish a weak jab early on however, Pacquiao seemed as fresh in the last three rounds as he was in the first, bouncing in and out of the pocket landing three or four shots for everyone Morales threw and he was losing the war of attrition.
The first knock down came from a stiff left straight that to this day is Pacquiao’s money punch. This was only Morales’ second knockdown of his career. I have previously stated and it is well known that Morales does not and never has had a strong defense he tends to back straight up when hurt unless he instinctively fires back. At this point, Morales simply did not have the endurance to hold himself up and crashed to the canvas. Morales rose to the count of seven. Seconds later Kenny Bayless stepped in to save Morales as he collapsed against the ropes from a final torrent of blows.
Manny Pacquiao had become the first fighter to stop Erik Morales. It was a TKO victory at 2:33 of the 10th round.
A large Pilipino crowd that had come to see their hero was jubilant.
Ten months passed. Morales seemed to right himself. He claimed he was not as well conditioned for the rematch as he thought, fired Jose Luis Lopez Sr. and brought his father Jose back. Morales rededicated himself and trained only for the rematch.
Manny Pacquiao was hitting his stride on the other hand. He took a fight against another tough Mexican grinder Oscar Larios and won a unanimous decision six months later.
The Third Fight
Morales had been stopped for the first time in his career in the rematch and the need to run it back was obvious. The rubber match was once again back at the Thomas & Mack center in Vegas, before a capacity, largely partisan crowd of 18,276. The vocal and raucous support from the Mexican and Mexican-Americans in attendance would attempt to buoy their champion while those of Filipino extraction rooted on their hero.
On that November night in 2006, the third meeting between the two men would be decisive.
It was quick, brutal and completely one sided.
From the opening bell, Erik Morales’ body seemed to betray him. His movements were stiff and mechanical. A man of only 30 years seemed much older in the ring on this night. Pacquiao, on the other hand, would only turn 28 the following month, hitting his prime.
In the roughly nine minutes of action, both men moved in with their trademark heedless aggression only this time Manny now a full-fledged lightweight easily absorbed Morales’ punches. Quickly Pacquiao imposed his strength and quickness forcing Morales’ hands to stay at home. It would not save him. During an exchange Pacquiao landed a hard right hook that shook Morales, sensing he was hurt Pacquiao used measured aggression to attack the body and head, a hard left cross sent Morales down! Morales on shaky legs would valiantly fight back, though he simply could not weather the storm, Pacquiao backed Morales up again with unrelenting pressure and landed another left straight that sent Morales down for the third and final time in the fight.
The late great Emmanuel Stewart was part of the HBO broadcast team that night and opined as Morales sat down on the canvas in a daze looking to his father Jose that the late Alexis Arguello had the same crest fallen expression on his face when he was knocked down for the last time in his legendary rematch with Aaron Pryor.
His will was broken., he looked at his father and gave a slight shake of his head “No.” Morales would not get up off the canvas.
Epilogue
Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales would fight three times in 20 months.
They would feel like twenty years for Morales. He would lose again nine months later to David Diaz by unanimous decision and announced his retirement.
Morales mounted a comeback with some success winning three fights in a row before losing to Marcos Maidana and lastly to Danny Garcia by KO. The prevailing wisdom is that a fighter does not get old in the ring. He gets old in the gym. He’s not able to train his body as hard as he once did, making the weight gets harder and more draining. Morales, though, the definition of The Mexican Boxing Style aged before our eyes in the fights with Manny Pacquiao.
For Manny who like Morales had a middling following outside his fan base, the three fights with Morales helped put him on the map and cemented him as a top boxing draw. The trilogy generated an astonishing 1,060,000 pay-per-view buys and $49.5 million in revenue.
Technically Pacquiao grew tremendously as a fighter. He retained his reckless style though he gained polish and variety under the tutelage of Freddy Roach. He was filling out as a lightweight and growing more powerful.
The fights against Morales laid the foundation for everything that Pacquiao was about to accomplish in the ring and assured his future earning potential.
In my next installment, I will examine the four fights Pacquiao had with the great Juan Manuel Marquez.
