11.01.05 – By Steve Mckenna: SO, it’s on – Erik Morales will clash with Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, March 19. Have you caught your breath yet? No, me neither. The thought of Morales going head to head with Pacquiao should be enough to make the hairs on the back of any boxing fan’s neck stand up. While rematches with Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera would have been eminently watchable, style-wise, Pacquiao taking on Morales beats them, hands-down. Some fights promise much, but are big let-downs (Hopkins vs de la Hoya anyone?). But Pacquiao v Morales guarantees fireworks..
It pits the quick, powerful southpaw against the Mexican great who goes to war every time he steps into the ring. While Marquez and Barrera would probably try to produce a boxing clinic to stifle Pac Man, Morales won’t do that. He may plan to be cautious, but it will all go out of the window as soon as Pacquiao comes at him. It’s a real 50-50, pick ’em clash and will split pundits down the middle.
No-one can be sure of the result. What is certain, though, is that emotions will be running high both inside, and outside, the ring. Vegas will be rammed with Americans, Mexicans and Filipinos and the atmosphere will be electric. And, if you’re a British-based fight fan, it’s likely you’ll be tempted to jump on a plane to join them. There may be a couple of massive fights involving Brits this year (Hatton v Tsyzu, Eastman v Hopkins), but a clash between these two foreign fighters is even more enticing. And one thing this fight proves is that you don’t need a WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO belt to sell a match-up to the punters. On paper, this is a just 12-round non-title super-featherweight bout.
But this will be so much more than that. If it isn’t in the top ten fights of 2005 come December, I’ll be even more stunned than I was when Mike Tyson lost to Buster Douglas.