By David P. Greisman
Photo © Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages.com
He quit. Erik Morales quit.
The template of a hard-nosed Mexican warrior, Morales made his imprint on the Sweet Science with titles in three weight divisions, triumphs over numerous noteworthy foes and his trilogies with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.
If it was the three bouts with Barrera that cemented Morales’ place in the history books, then it was also the three fights with Pacquiao that closed out Morales’ tale with an emphatic “The End.”
The man who turned southpaw to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao in the final round of their first bout would show no such bravado in the rubber match, not after Pacquiao’s power scarred Morales’ pride in the rematch and especially not after Pacquiao’s trademark left crosses and newfound right hooks reopened the figurative wounds.
Not that Morales wasn’t willing to go to war – flashes of back-and-forth trading in the second and third rounds reminded viewers of the bold Morales who outpointed Pacquiao in March 2005. But this old Morales no longer had the grit to stomach what the Filipino Firebomber was force-feeding him: nonstop aggression from a younger, stronger, hungrier opponent, a seemingly unstoppable machine who, like his videogame namesake, seeks to gobble up whomever is put in his path.
The Pacman who had floored Morales twice in their second tussle – the first times that “El Terrible” had truly tasted canvas, the errantly called knockdown in Morales-Barrera I aside – pummeled Morales to the mat once in Round Two and twice more in the third and final stanza. But even after the second knockdown, a clearly dejected Morales jogged up to referee Vic Drakulich, anticipating the whirling dervish he would need to endure in order to retaliate.
Braving an onslaught of thumping left crosses, a Morales jab and right hook landed flush enough to momentarily pause Pacquiao’s pounding. But Pacquiao responded with a left hook, wobbling Morales and forcing “El Terrible” to grab onto Pacquiao in the hopes of extending the round, the bout and his career.
Pacquiao looked to finish the fight, while Morales wore the frightened gaze of a man trapped in a dark alley by a vicious aggressor. A left cross sent Morales crashing down once more, a hit that dumped Morales on his tail with his back leaning against the ropes. As the referee began his count, Morales looked left at his corner’s entreaties for him to rise, glanced to his right at the referee and Pacquiao and then turned his look back at his team and shook his head. Morales waited for Drakulich to reach the count of 10, and only then did he stand.
He could do no more. No mas. He shook his head and quit. Erik Morales quit.
After a lengthy career and more than four dozen fights, Morales no longer had the warrior mentality to go out on his shield or the resolve to back away from his remaining warrior instincts and adjust. Boxing had worked for Juan Manuel Marquez after Pacquiao downed him thrice in the first round of their 2004 classic, and Marco Antonio Barrera had wisely chosen strategy over slugging in his September rematch against Rocky Juarez.
Morales didn’t do it. Morales wouldn’t do it. Morales couldn’t do it.
“They were urging me on to get up, but I said, ‘No, it’s to no avail,’ ” Morales told interviewer Larry Merchant following the fight. “There are times when you need to know when you’re beaten, and I think I was a beaten man tonight.”
“I did my best. I had the physical training, I had the mental training, all the preparation, everything that I could do to win. Pacquiao is just too much,” he said.
Pacquiao was just too much, and Morales wanted no more.
The 10 Count
1. With the blowout win, Pacquiao asserted that he is the man to beat in the junior lightweight division, all the while establishing momentum for a possible rematch against Marco Antonio Barrera – the most profitable opportunity in and around 130 pounds.
It is precisely that profit which produced controversy, and to nobody’s surprise it involves a sanctioning body.
In August, the World Boxing Council sanctioned the Humberto Soto-Ivan Valle bout as a title eliminator, a classification giving the impression that the winner of Soto-Valle would face the victor in September’s Marco Antonio Barrera-Rocky Juarez rematch.
Both Soto and Barrera won, but WBC chief Jose Sulaiman said last week that the victor of Pacquiao-Morales III would have won a title eliminator and the mandatory right to face Barrera. Fortunately, the camps of both Pacquiao and Morales reportedly saw the WBC’s uninvited gesture for what it truly was – an attempt to get six figures of sanctioning fees in addition to those taken for Pacquiao’s WBC International trinket.
After promoter Bob Arum issued a scathing statement criticizing the WBC’s endeavor at taking money from Morales and Pacquiao just three months after Soto paid less for the same Barrera title shot, Sulaiman issued a statement of his own that, as usual, lacked logic.
“Arum’s statement about Soto’s having fought a final elimination bout is false, as he picked the rival, not the WBC, in what was approved as a simple elimination bout, but never a final eliminator,” Sulaiman wrote.
In other words, because Valle replaced a Bobby Pacquiao who didn’t want to fight Humberto Soto, a bout that would have been a final eliminator no longer met the qualifications because of Soto’s new opponent. While that makes sense, why classify Soto-Valle as any kind of elimination bout – even the dubiously named “simple elimination bout” – unless the result of said classification is to bring more cash to the WBC’s coffers.
2. But, hey, at least the WBC finally removed Morales from its No. 1 lightweight ranking, a position completely unjustified as Morales’ lone appearance in that division was a one-sided loss to Zahir Raheem. And while Morales’ 0-1 record at 135 was deemed worthy by the WBC for their top lightweight ranking, Raheem’s April loss to Acelino Freitas in a WBO title fight saw him drop from the WBC’s International trinket-holder to No. 13 in May, No. 11 in July and No. 21 in the sanctioning body’s most recent rankings.
3. Sticking with a theme, flyweight titlist Pongsaklek Wonjongkam successfully defended his WBC belt for the 16th time last week, outpointing Monelisi Myekini en route to a 12-round unanimous decision. For Wonjongkam, it was his first mandatory defense since Nov. 2003, when he won a unanimous decision over Hussein Hussein.
As much as the WBC is criticized, it is unthinkable that even they could let a titlist go three years between mandatory defenses. Wonjongkam was supposed to face challenger Jorge Arce in July 2005, but Wonjongkam withdrew from the bout and Arce instead knocked out Angel Priolo to take the WBC’s interim belt. And rather than force Wonjongkam to meet Arce, the WBC instead chose to bathe in the extra sanctioning fees. In-between stopping Priolo last year and migrating to junior bantamweight in September, Arce defended his interim belt four times while Wonjongkam had six fights, including four title defenses.
4. The WBC isn’t the only sanctioning body of late making questionable decisions. As originally pointed out last week by boxing news reporter Greg Leon, the World Boxing Association has made a mockery of the cruiserweight division through their inept regulation.
The WBA now has a “super” champion – O’Neil Bell, who unified the IBF, WBA and WBC belts in January before being stripped by the IBF earlier this year; a “regular” champion – Virgil Hill, who took the vacant belt in January by outpointing Valery Brudov and will face the long-retired Henry Maske next year; and two fighters contesting for an “interim” championship – Luis Pineda and the aforementioned Brudov.
There are also two fighters who are unfairly being kept on the outside, looking in: Firat Arslan, who stopped Grigory Drozd last month in a title eliminator, and Guillermo Jones, who was once Bell’s mandatory but lost that designation by signing to fight Steve Cunningham for the vacant IBF trinket. Jones never fought Cunningham, withdrawing from the bout due to health issues, and now the WBA has only reinstated Jones in their No. 6 ranking.
5. With last Monday’s announcement that Floyd Mayweather will challenge Oscar De La Hoya in a May 2007 pay-per-view superfight, the boxing world will be buzzing over the next six months with speculation and anticipation.
The chatter has already begun, and it will only build as De La Hoya and Mayweather embark on the epitome of a whirlwind publicity tour. But while mainstream attention and a prolonged build-up to a hopefully fulfilling climax may only contribute good things to the business, it could in the meantime detract from the sport.
As both Mayweather and De la Hoya are admittedly in the latter stages of their careers, their previous accomplishments and stardom may unfortunately distract from the exciting fights that sit on the horizon and from the excellent fighters who deserve attention that the outgoing class of superstars are not yet willing to let go of.
Nevertheless, the announcement of De La Hoya-Mayweather was big – despite its inevitability and lack of surprise – and the Golden Boy and the Pretty Boy hope to cash in on the hype, while the fans who will supply the cash hope that the fight lives up to the fighters’ pedigrees and promises.
6. Last week brought another big announcement that also wasn’t much of a surprise: the postponement of December’s Superfighter heavyweight tournament until early next year, and the change of venue from Australia to the United States.
According to Superfighter chief Stephen Duval, the move is due to the withdrawals of Calvin Brock and Samuel Peter as well as “the unexpected challenges for fighters’ securing the proper clearances to enter Australia in time to train and acclimate themselves.”
While Duval and his investors may believe that postponing Superfighter saved its credibility and prevented it from being a super failure, they will now need to contend with selling its legitimacy to fans and writers who have read and heard the propaganda but seen little that will convince them that the pay-per-view tournament deserves attention and recognition.
7. For those not well versed on the world of professional wrestling, that was World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Rey Mysterio who joined Erik Morales in his dressing room and later waved a flag during the Mexican national anthem. If Mysterio wasn’t recovering from surgery, it would have been fitting for Pacquiao to have been escorted by The Undertaker, who accompanied Pacquiao prior to last year’s stoppage victory over Hector Velazquez. For on a night when Pacquiao-Morales III ended early and the undercard bouts failed to fulfill expectations, Mysterio-Undertaker would have been an entertaining finale.
8. The aforementioned Velazquez finally beat a Pacquiao last week, defeating Manny’s younger brother Bobby via disqualification. If Saturday spotlighted why Manny is a superstar, then Thursday displayed why Bobby is a lesser-accomplished former journeyman.
Not only did Bobby come in three pounds over the junior lightweight limit and lose his WBC Continental Americas trinket at the scales, but he also must have had his fists taken over by the spirit of Andrew Golota. On numerous occasions, Bobby Pacquiao punched south of the border, forcing referee Kenny Bayless to disqualify him in the 11th round.
9. Speaking of low blows, if unofficial HBO scorer Harold Lederman is always preaching the importance of ring generalship and effective aggression, how in the world did he score the Omar Nino-Brian Viloria rematch 115-112 in favor of Viloria? My scorecard read the same as judge Dave Moretti’s – 115-112 Nino, allowing Nino to retain in a dreadfully tentative bout in which Viloria may have used up the last of his 15 minutes.
10. But at least Lederman’s scorecards don’t affect bout outcomes, unlike those of the judges for the Ricardo Torres-Mike Arnaoutis junior welterweight title fight. How Adalaide Byrd found it possible to see it 116-111 Torres is beyond me, and Harry Davis’ 114-113 scorecard took the victory from an Arnaoutis who clearly out-boxed the listless Torres.
And as disappointing as it was to see both a bad decision and a Ricardo Torres so far removed from last year’s electric near-upset of Miguel Cotto, part of the blame should also sit on the shoulders of Mike Arnaoutis. After knocking Torres down with a left counter and a stiff southpaw right, Arnaoutis touched gloves with his fallen foe instead of finishing him off. It’s one thing to be cautious of a Torres who, against Cotto, was at his most dangerous when hurt and on the ropes, but essentially letting Torres off the hook may have cost Arnaoutis the victory.
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