WBC News: Morales-Pacquiao

23.03.05 – From WBC President Jose Sulaiman: “I am very proud of the whole show that was presented on March 19 in Las Vegas, and especially the extraordinary fight between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao. Morales showed that he is, without question, one of the the very best fighters pound-for-pound in the world..

“I would like to pay respect to the courage and bravery of Pacquiao, as well, who I feel did not lose. To the contrary, I think he won prestige with his outstanding performance.

“This was a war between two great warriors. With this win, Morales won the WBC International championship and became the one and only official challenger for super featherweight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera, as was approved by the WBC Board of Governors before the fight.

“I believe that Erik became the psychological and mental winner right in the first round. Manny drove him back to the ropes with five or six consecutive hard punches, but Erik immediately came back and took Manny back to the ropes, where he connected with six or seven even harder punches. To me, that set the tone for the rest of the fight, where Erik showed the steel of which he is built.

“Jorge ‘Travieso’ Arce, who was one of the most popular and distinguished ‘Big Brothers’ on the hit television series last year year in Mexico, proved with his knockout win against Hussein Hussein to be an even better fighter than a Big Brother. With the heart of a Mexican lion, courage, and determination, Jorge overcame a severe cut to win. I would like to congratulate and applaud Jeff Fenech for his coming into the ring to stop the fight in a humanitarian action, and I hope that his example will be followed by managers around the world. With the win, Arce becomes the official challenger for the next title defense of the great flyweight world champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, who has made 11 successful title defenses over his four-year championship reign.

“Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. proved that he is filling the shoes of his famous father, and is earning the respect and affection of the public.”