Sunday, January 9, 2005
By Steve Kim
MaxBoxing.com

Erik Morales will take on Manny Pacquiao on March 19 in a pay-per-view fight to be broadcast on HBO, sources said Sunday night.

There had been much speculation as to who Pacquiao would be fighting next. Most believed that the Filipino star would be facing Juan Manuel Marquez in a highly anticipated rematch Feb. 26.

According to industry sources, the match is being made by Top Rank to put Marco Antonio Barrera and Golden Boy Promotions in a bind. With Morales and Pacquiao facing each other, Barrera finds himself for the time being without a big-name opponent.

Perhaps he can face Marquez, who sees himself on the outside looking in again.

In The Works And Looking Good: Morales-Pacquiao HBO PPV March 19!
By G. Leon

January 09, 2005 - After El Nuevo Dia first reported the collapse of the eagerly anticipated Feb. 26 battle for featherweight supremacy between featherweight king Manny Pacquiao and WBA/IBF featherweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez last week, everyone in boxing was wondering what Pacquiao's next move was going to be. Would you believe us if we told you Erik Morales Vs. Manny Pacquiao is in the works and looking good? Well it is. **********.com has been hearing some serious rumblings that with the Marquez rematch out of the equation, Pacquiao will be moving up to 130 pounds to face former WBC junior lightweight champion Erik Morales on HBO PPV March 19! The usually talkative Murad Muhammad surprisingly had no comment when we spoke to him last night. Top Rank's Bob Arum and Todd DuBoef were unavailable for immediate comment when ********** called them on the cellular phones. Like Muhammad, Top Rank PR guy Lee Samuels had nothing to say. **********.com will continue to keep you updated as all of the latest information regarding this potential super fight comes in. Remember where you heard it first! (10: 45 PM ET)

Monday, January 10, 2005
Gulle: Get, while the getting is good!
By Inocentes A. Gulle

REPORT says Marquez threatens to back out from his scheduled fight with Manny Pacquiao in February, unless they increase his purse to $1.5 million. Marquez is allegedly irked at being given less than they are giving Manny. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and company, are allegedly putting up only $750,000 for Marquez, while they are giving Manny $900,00. Marquez reportedly said that he being the champion deserves to get what is due a champion, and would not sign the contract until he gets the better end of the bargain.

We can understand perfectly the feeling of the Mexican. He knows he is going to undergo hell in facing Pacquio in the ring. He knows that the possibility of losing his title, which he still holds only by virtue of a supposed scoring error of one of the judges in their previous fight that resulted in a draw, is very great. Pacquiao should have won that one had this judge scored it correctly the first round where Manny knocked down Marquez three times.

Well, that's history and we know better. For the possibility of getting beat up silly, who would not demand a bigger compensation? I wouldn't go through hell for a measly one million dollars, let alone $750,000. Besides, if one would lose his title(s), which is very, very possible, who would get him another money fight afterwards? So, why not get while the getting is good?

Some people are saying that Manny is out of shape and can lose this fight. That Manny prefers to attend to his acting in TV commercials than train for this big fight. That he is very much out of condition for such a very important outing. That is very unkind of them. Manny knows which side of his bread is buttered. He also knows when he is out of shape. Besides, he knows how to do his job when the time comes. Let's stop trying to run the affairs of other people, shall we? How much have we contributed in order to get Manny up there where he is now? Let's stop being bigots.

If he really is out of shape as some would have it understood, I don't think he would venture into that ring and get beat. Manny had trained for his Phasun 3K Battery fight and could not have lost his condition that quickly. Besides, we do not know that he is not doing some work in the interim.

Manny is not that stupid, not after he had learned that painful lesson in that Megdeon affair in Thailand a few years back. But that is different. He had become too heavy for that fight and could not shed enough weight to make it in just a few hours before official weigh-in. This time he is not going to shed weight.

An athlete, before he is thirty, can get into shape really fast. In Manny's case, two weeks roadwork and sparring sessions, are sufficient to get back into shape. Another week for honing the reflexes would be enough. He had fought Marquez before and he knows now what button to press. It would certainly be a different scenario, mark that. That is if Marquez would not turn yellow tail.

Believe it pre.

the chicken gay crossed the road again... :D

I believe so dude.
But Thrilla started a thread titled " Morales a Bait?".
Hmmmmm. Makes you think....

I just hope MURAD don't get sucker punched again and left out to dry, last time this was happening PAC ended up with 3k, hopefully this is not the case this time ....

No contract is being signed yet. Until then this news is still a gossip. Kinanginangmgahindutnayan!!!!

I wish this match is really happened :rolleyes:

I guess this is really happening, and I can't wait till fight night ...

Juan’s Loss is The Fight World’s Gain By Ricardo Lois

The New Year brought more than rain for this Los Angeles, California resident. Harboring the final day of seemingly endless rain and wind, news reached my e-mail account from Top Rank representative Ricardo Jimenez, Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales will be fighting March 19, 2004.

Fight fans should send Saint Nick a Thank You note, the jolly old elf put a stellar fight schedule for 2005 under their Christmas trees. As Juan Manuel Marquez and his trainer Ignacio Beristain haggled Top Rank over their end of the purse for a rematch with Pacquiao, Morales sneaked in the back door and took their payday.

Ironically Beristain has told this writer on several occasions that Top Rank seems more interested in promoting Morales than Marquez.

Juan’s loss is the fight world’s gain.

Coming off of a disappointing loss to old rival Marco Antonio Barrera, Morales will be set to restore his image as THE Mexican legend of this particular era. A clear victory over Pacquiao, whom easily conquered Barrera, adds ammunition to Morales’ argument of being the best Mexican.

The ball of fury called Pacquiao faces his stiffest challenge to date. Morales settled into the junior lightweight division during 2004 and will be the bigger man when he battles the pinoy. If Pacquiao, who is moving up in weight from featherweight, defeats Morales, he will gain infamy in the psyche of Mexicans as a slayer of their best boxers.

Its not so easy to have a reputation like Pacman. I think its causing those unsigned contracts.

I'm sure only the unknowns are dying to fight Manny. But this wont be fun for Manny plus the money wont be good too. We can only pray that Pacquiao gets a good deal.

Hey jomapac what's the pic of Aga Muhlach doing on your avatar ?? LOL. I thought we were about hot babes and not screen idols ??? LOL

We are all hoping Lapulapu that PAC will get a good deal and we fans will get a very good fight ....

Thrilla just change my avatar, now this is the real me ...

Much better avatar amigo !!

Looks like this is really happening boys.

Tickets are on sale and HBO PPV is priced at $44.95.

NEWS FLASH
Morales-Pacquiao tickets!
Superfight tickets go on sale Friday at noon

Attention fight fans who want to see superstars Erik 'El Terrible' Morales and Manny Pacquiao battle LIVE on March 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tickets priced at $400, $300, $200, $125 and $75, not including applicable service charges and taxes, go on sale Friday at Noon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office. Tickets also are sold at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Tower Records/WOW!, Smith's Food and Drug Centers, Robinsons-May stores and Ritmo Latino locations.) To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at 702-474-4000. Tickets are also available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com. For room packages, availability and event ticket information about MGM Grand, call 800-929-1111 or log onto the World Wide Web at www.mgmgrand.com.
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Meanwhile, the Morales vs. Pacquiao pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9pm ET/6pm PT on March 19, has a suggested retail price of $44.95, will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to over 50 million pay-per-view homes. "Fight fans are going to see an all-action fight from bell to bell," promised promoter Bob Arum. "This is an exciting event and this is what professional boxing is all about." HBO Senior Vice President of Sports Operations and pay-per-view Mark Taffet said, "As they did in 2004, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao continue to participate in some of the sport's most exciting and compelling match-ups. This should be a great event for pay-per-view boxing fans."
Tuesday, January 11 2005 from Fightnews.com

This fight is definitely on. :)

Langya ka. Si mai ba ito ?? :D :p

this fight is becoming a reality day by day, hope nobody f_cks this up, I think even though PAC-JMM 2 is highly anticipated, more fans wants to see this fight and will be willing to pay to see it...

I think it's really happening now ...

http://mannypacquiao.ph/photos/pacquiao-morales.jpg

PACQUIAO, MORALES MEET; VOW TO WAGE CLASSIC WAR
By Salven L. Lagumbay
mannypacquiao.ph
January 13, 2005

In their first meeting to date, Filipino Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Erik Morales did not disappoint as they drew the biggest media turnout Top Rank has ever had in Los Angeles during the press conference yesterday to officially announce their March 19 showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, wearing a rosary hung around his neck over a white-and-blue sweatshirt and his ultra-expensive wristwatch, lived up to Filipino expectations of not playing coy and second fiddle against the vastly-popular Morales, saying, "I'm going to give you a real good fight."

Morales, dapper in black jacket worn over a white polo shirt, also declared, "I had three great fights last year. It didn't finialize the way I had hoped it to, but I'm very satisfied with my performances. I didn't want to take anyone easy coming back. I think this will be a great, explosive fight."

As usual, Pacquiao's bombastic promoter Murad Muhammad reportedly heated things up a bit under wintry conditions in Los Angeles when he stated that Pacquiao annihilated a legend in Barrera, sent down Marquez three times and now "he's going after the top Mexican."

Promoter Bob Arum later told Fightnews, "This smells like it's going to do tremendous business because Morales Barrera did big, but it was two Mexicans. I think a Filipino and a Mexican brings another element to it, because it energizes over two million Filipinos in Southern California."

Tickets for the bout are priced from $75 to $400 and seats go on sale Friday at noon. Only the main event was announced during the presscon held at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Meanwhile, in a virtual rout, reigning Ring Magazine featherweight king Manny Pacquiao has been hailed by the Games and Amusements Board as the country's 2004 Boxer of the Year following his successful campaign for the year 2004.

GAB Boxing Division chief Emmanuel "Noli" Flores, in an interview with this writer, informed that Pacquiao won hands down, thus clinching his third GAB Award.

Newly-installed GAB chairman Eric Buhain, together with Commissioners Angel Bautista and Alex Paglumutan, is expected to award Pacquiao with the official citation probably soon after the Filipino ring icon comes back from his scheduled showdown with Mexican legend Erik Morales.

that's how they play the boxing business...but our Pacman gains from whatever hell they're up to..... just bring them on.....ayos ba 'tol?