17.11.06 – By Tim Neilson: Junior lightweights Manny Pacquiao (42-3-2, 33 KO’s) and Erik Morales (48-4, 34 KO’s) meet for third, and perhaps the final time, tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas. After their first two fights, it’s difficult to determine who the better fighter was, considering the fights have been so evenly split. While the first fight went to Morales by 12-round decision, who seemed to have taken some ideas from Juan Manuel Marquez, by boxing Pacquiao rather than trying to exchange..
In the 2nd bout, however, Morales looked badly weak from the start, after starving himself to make weight for the fight. Still, Morales gallantly fought hard in the first half, winning the majority of the rounds. In the second half of the fight, Pacquiao’s constant pressure finally proved to be too much for Morales to take, causing the referee to stop the bout in the 10th round, awarding the victory to Pacquiao. This time, however, Morales has trained harder and didn’t starve himself to make weight, much to the relief of Morales’ fans, who were alarmed at his emaciated condition in the last bout.
That said, Morales does look a tad thin, after watching the weight in, and he doesn’t look quite healthy as he has in the past, prior to his first fight with Pacquiao. Still, though, he looks better than last time, so it’s an improvement.
For each of these boxers, there’s no mystery what their going to attempt to do in the ring tonight. Knowing that he will get murdered on the inside by Pacquiao, Morales will try and stay on the outside and use his jab and powerful right hand to control the smaller, faster Pacquiao. Last time out, Morales made a major mistake of letting Pacquiao get within punching distance, and he paid the price by eating countless lightning fast combinations Manny, that broke Morales nose and busted up his face.
On the other side of the coin, Pacquiao will be constantly coming forward to try and wear down Morales with fast power shots, hoping to end it with a flurry. The fact that Morales, again, has had to lose a dramatic amount of weight to make the 130 lb. weight limit, has likely not gone un-noticed by Pacquiao, a natural lightweight, and he’ll try to take advantage of that by making Morales work.
This fight means a lot to both fighters, but especially for Pacquiao, it can turn open a lot of doors for him in the world stage, making him one of the most marketable fighters in boxing. However, before he can get to that stage, he’s going to have to pass this final test, which won’t be so easy, considering he’s already failed once before.
Nevertheless, I see Pacquiao winning tonight, beating a badly weight-drained, Morales in the 11th round.