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Pacman Scores Manilla Ice, but Where Does He Go Now?
THU January 26, JERRY CASAREZ -
Saturday night before a crowd of more than 14,000 fans Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao, 41-3-2 33KO, defeated Erik”El Terrible” Morales, 48-4 34KO, by 10 round TKO. The action that took place at the Thomas & Mack center in Las Vegas was everything and more than anyone could have asked for. Much to the surprise of many experts Pacquiao was able to make adjustments throughout the fight and proved to be too much for the valiant Morales who before this fight had never been stopped in his career.
The early rounds looked like a continuation of their first fight with Morales looking to take advantage of Pacquiao’s mistakes to land his own punches. That seemed to work for a round where Morales would look to make Pacquiao back straight up when faced with the Mexican’s pressure. At the end of the first it appeared that Morales may have a short night when he stunned Manny with borage of punches to end the round.
As Manny made his way to his corner he would hear the words of the Great Freddie Roach who got Pacquiao to settle down and go back to his game plan which consisted of using his right hand more and to use lateral movement to avoid Morales big punches. And that would be the theme of the night with Pacquiao round after round being able to escape from the exchanges being the more effective of the two. The use of Manila Ice (his right hand) was visible Saturday night as he frequently threw hooks and uppercuts off his jab.
It was the sixth round when you could finally see the Tijuana badass was starting to show signs that he was getting tired. Fatigue and the accumulation of punches would prevent Morales from being able to mount the offensive comebacks he had displayed throughout his career. The ninth would show the Morales use his jab to set up his right hand. He would look to set Pacquiao up if he should come in reckless. Midway through the round Morales would land a right uppercut that would knock Manny into the ropes. Soon after Morales was unable to capitalize off of the punch and was instead led into an exchange in the middle of the ring which was not in his favor. After a few exchanges with about 10 seconds left in the round Morales would turn and move away from the punches while trying to regroup. The fans did not take kindly to his actions as they booed him in a sign of disapproval.
In between rounds Morales’s corner would try to rally their man to one last stand but the expression on his face showed a man who had already hit the wall. He would start the 10th round again using his jab but would soon be forced into an exchange in the middle of the ring. Manny would shot an overhand left to the side on Erik’s head that would drop him for a count of eight before he would stand and decide to continue. With a high guard up against Pacquiao’s assault Morales soon found himself on the ropes again falling to borage of punches with Referee Kenny Bayless waiving it off at 2:33 of the 10th round. Manny had TKO’d Morales for the first time in his career. At the time of the stoppage all three judges had Manny leading their scorecards with scores of Jerry Roth 87-84, Dave Moretti 86-85 and Paul Smith 87-84.
So many questions were answered as to weather or not Manny Pacquiao could make adjustments and if his team’s claims about the choice of gloves mattered. Well the answer was Yes Manny would learn to not pull back straight and to make better use of his right hand. Also the gloves would allow Manny to use the weapon Freddie Roach likes to call Manila Ice. So where does Manny go now?
Well we have learned a couple of things since Sat night. One, Marco Antonio Barrera will fight IBF Lightweight Champion Jesus Chavez on March 25th. Two, Erik Morales may be off for a while healing his injuries suffered in his fight and has made mention of moving up to the Lightweight division should he choose to fight on. So with both of his Mexican rivals out of the equation for now what is the Pac man to do?
How bout a homecoming fight. That's right it seems as if his management team has expressed interest to HBO that Manny would like to fight next in his homeland of the Philippines. Among those names mentioned as possible opponents are Zahir Raheem, Kevin Kelley and Tim Austin. While no word is official you can expect that Trainer Freddie Roach will be scouting tapes of these and other fighters to see who will make the best opponent for his Filipino Superstar.
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