By Ronnie Nathanielsz
FILIPINO ring idol Manny Pacquiao clearly has no weight problems as a World Boxing Council weigh-in conducted at the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Freddie Roach indicated he was a mere 138 3/4 pounds, compared to Erik Morales, who the other day came in at 142 lb despite over a month of specialized training at the Velocity Performance Center in Los Angeles.
Pacquiao tipped the scales wearing a shirt and his shoes, according to Roach who figured that the Filipino’s real weight yesterday was about 136 lb, which is perfect at this stage of his preparation for the Grand Finale rubber match against Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 18.
Former WBC founding secretary-general Rudy Salud, who expressed confidence that Pacquiao will dispose of Morales without too much trouble, clarified that the Mexican’s problem in reducing to the 130-lb limit is that while the special nutritional program does not affect fighters, who need to lose a few pounds like former WBC super flyweight champion Gerry Peñalosa, when a fighter is forced to reduce several pounds as in the case of Morales, he will lose some strength or power.
Morales was originally more than 20 lb over the super featherweight limit when he started his weight-reduction program.
There are strong indications that Morales will eventually come in at 132 lb, which is the weight his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank wanted the fight to take place at. But because of the strong objections of Pacquiao and Roach, the fight was set at 130 lb.
Under the terms of the contract, should Morales weigh in at 132 lb, he will have to pay Pacquiao a fine of $1 million, which both Pacquiao and Roach have indicated they will take and then fight Morales, confident that even with a weight advantage of 2 lb, Morales cannot beat Pacquiao.
