Watch out, Pacman

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

FILIPINO ring idol Manny Pacquiao will be in for a surprise in his Grand Finale rubber match with Mexican Erik “El Terrible” Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 18, according to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in an exclusive overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Standard Today from his Las Vegas office at 2:15 a.m.(Manila time) Friday.

Arum said Morales was coming along in sensational fashion and that the Velocity Sports Performance Center conditioning expert, exercise physiologist Jorgen Persson, appointed by Top Rank to work with Morales, has his weight “absolutely perfect.”

He said Morales, who weighed 142 pounds at a World Boxing Council weigh-in last week, was down to 137 lb.

“When he comes to Vegas, he’ll be 132 lb and will be under 130 at the weigh-in [on the eve of the fight],” said Arum.

Morales is training in the refreshing cool mountain air of Otomi, while Pacquiao is training at the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles.

Arum was confident that the weight is no longer an issue, after earlier concerns when Morales ballooned to some 150 lb before beginning his scientific weight-reduction program in Los Angeles.

“The difference between this time and the last time is that Erik will be strong not weak by making the weight. In other words, they did it very sensibly,” said Arum, who noted that the Velocity Sports Performance people “bring you speed and power. That’s exactly what they do.”

Morales stronger this time

He indicated that Top Rank has had experience with them in the past and “they are not baloney. They are really serious people, who know what they are doing.”

The Velocity Sports Performance Center, according to Arum, has “certified experts in all the various disciplines. They know how to get the quickness and put muscle on without impeding your quickness.”

He noted that fighters have a tendency when losing weight to burn muscle instead of fat but it doesn’t happen under the Velocity experts program, which is “very, very good. People in boxing are good trainers and they know something about it, but they don’t have the expertise that these guys have.”

Arum predicted that the Grand Finale will be the best of the three fights so far between Pacquiao and Morales.

Morales won the first by a unanimous decision after Pacquiao suffered a nasty gash in the fifth round due to an accidental head-butt, which referee Joe Cortez inexplicably claimed was caused by a punch, but was clearly disputed in the television replays.

Pacquiao demolished a tired Morales in the rematch, winning by a 10th-round stoppage.

He won’t tire

The Top Rank promoter believes this will be a fight, where Morales “will not get tired and where he and Pacquiao will wage war from the opening bell to the ending, going the distance or before. With these guys, there won’t be a backward step and there won’t be time for a pause. I am really looking forward to this fight.”

Arum predicted that tickets will be sold out one week before the fight and that so far, “it’s been sensational,” even as they are now planning for closed circuit television in Las Vegas.

Arum claims that because of all the changes made in Morales’ conditioning program, his sparring partners say “they have never seen him so fast, strong and not tired” and that the program was having “a tremendously good effect on his [Morales’] ability.”

By the same token, Arum admitted that Pacquiao was “doing fantastic.”

A fight for the ages

He said all the reports he gets out of the Wild Card Gym of Roach is that Pacquiao “is at the top of his game and doing just super.”

“That’s why I am saying this is going to be one of the great fights of all time. I really believe that. As good as the other two fights were, this one will be even better.”

Arum declined to discuss his claim that after the Morales fight, Pacquiao will continue to fight under the Top Rank promotional banner.

“I don’t want to disturb the fighters and get caught up with a lot of issues that will become clear after the fight. Right now, it’s good for both guys to concentrate on the fight. This is the best fight, the biggest fight of their lives and what will be after the fight will become clear after the fight. But I stand by my statement.”