Pacquiao: Chronicling the past 10 years of Boxing's best (part 9)

July 1, 1:58 AMIndianapolis Fight Sports ExaminerDennis "dSource" Guillermo

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After putting on a show for his countrymen back home in the Philippines when he defeated Oscar Larios, Manny Pacquiao had some unfinished business to take care of with his nemesis Erik Morales. The rubber-match was set for the 18th of November in 2006 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, the same venue of their blockbuster rematch.

After losing to Pacquiao in January of that year, Morales like Pacquiao before him, had his own set of reasons he attributed the loss to. Morales claimed he was exhausted from trying to make the weight limit for their bout and that Pacquiao did not hurt him at all and that he simply went down due to fatigue. Pacquiao took exception to Morales’ claims and promised that he would definitely make sure Morales felt his power in their rubber match.

The bad-blood between the Pacquiao and Morales camps was also coming to a boil. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach also got into the action when he told Morales “We took you lightly the first time.” Roach said Morales responded to him saying “Shut the f*^k up and sit down. Stop crying.”

To understand Erik Morales, one must appreciate the pride and ferocity “El Terrible” possessed. Not a lot of boxers fight with the same amount of fire inside them like the Mexican legend from Tijuana. It was what drove Morales to be great; and at times, it was also what made him to be looked upon as a pompous and arrogant person. Morales embodied Mexican pride the way his counterpart Marco Antonio Barrera did. Add Juan Manuel Marquez to the equation who is somewhat a different breed but still great in his own right because of his skill, intelligence and technique, and you got, in my opinion, the greatest quartet of fighters in the same division and in the same era ever.

Morales brought back his father Jose as his trainer for his third match against Pacquiao. He also did a lot or cardio training with a fitness trainer to scientifically cut down his weight. Pacquiao on the other hand was digging his own holes and was being bombarded with distractions left and right. With his continued rise to fame, Pacquiao’s vices and commitments outside boxing grew as well. His gambling and hobbies like shooting pool all night and drinking beer were starting to gain more publicity than his ring exploits. Being a big fish in a small pond living in his hometown in General Santos city seemed like it was finally catching up to the Filipino icon.

But none of those vices and distractions would jeopardize Pacquiao’s career more than his next blunder. That blunder was when Pacquiao signed a seven-fight contract with Golden Boy Promotions while he was still under Top Rank Promotions. Top Rank boss Bob Arum cried foul and threatened to take the necessary legal actions that potentially would’ve been extremely damaging to Pacquiao’s career. As Freddie Roach put it at the time “the future is not really bright, unless we win this fight.”
 

After a much-anticipated wait, November 18 finally came. 18,276 fans packed the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas that made up for one of the most frenzied and maniacal crowds in boxing history. It was a clash of two modern-day legends and two feverishly loyal fan bases. It was a battle of two countries that had a lot of pride meeting in the Mecca of prizefighting amidst the climax of one of the sport’s most epic conflicts. Mexican and Phillipine flags colored the jam-packed stadium. It was a fight for the ages, and in this day and age, watching Pacquiao versus Morales was the closest thing to being in the middle of a crossfire between two warring countries.

HBO analyst Jim Lampley commented before the fight,

“I have been calling fights for twenty years. I’ve been to a lot of boxing fights before that. This could be as raucous, as noisy as any boxing crowd as I’ve ever seen.”

And rightfully so, there hasn’t been a lot of pairings at the highest level of the game that engages their opponents and come to fight more than Pacquiao and Morales did.

After the singing of the national anthems, it was clear who the crowd came to see- chants of “Manny! Manny! Manny!” filled the air. The Mexican crowd was not to be outdone however as they shot back with chants of “Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!”
Morales walked into the ring first to traditional mariachi background music accompanied by a Mexican vocalist in the ring. Also visible was a “Luchador” (Mexican wrestler) that donned a mask ala WWE superstar Rey Mysterio and Jack Black’s character that was popular at that time, Nacho Libre, waving the Mexican flag in the ring. Morales was greeted with cheers by his loyal and adoring fans.

Pacquiao’s entrance was next. He walked to the ring to his own track he recorded with the late great Filipino rapper Francis M. to the delight of all the Pacman fans in the arena. Watching the entrance today adds a sentimental feel to the scene for a Filipino who grew up in the Philippines such as myself. Francis M. was the most influential rapper ever in the Philippines and he was carrying the torch of nationalism long before Pacquiao inspired a boom of Filipino pride back home. It’s befitting that the two men collaborated for a song and symbolic that Pacquiao entered the ring with it playing in the background in one of the most significant fights of his career.

After the pre-fight pageantries, Pacquiao and Morales finally touched gloves and began to write the end of their saga together as HBO analyst Larry Merchant remarked,

“Hide the women and the children, if any of them are still awake.”

Lost in the excitement of the atmosphere was one of the funniest wisecracks I’ve ever heard from a boxing fight as Jim Lampley responded,

“I don’t know about you Larry, but the kind of women I know love this stuff.”

CONTINUE ON PAGE 2

***************************************************

GO TO PART 1 OF THIS SERIES  - "Introduction"

GO TO PART 2  - "The Exodus"

GO TO PART 3  - "Defining Moment"

GO TO PART 4  - "The Republica Strikes Back 1"

GO TO PART 5 - "The Republica Strikes Back 2" 

GO TO PART 6 - "Picking up the Pieces"

GO TO PART 7 - "Confirmation"

GO TO PART 8 - "Thrilla back in Manila"

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