By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao has joined the fray following an exchange of remarks between the members of his camp and those of Erik “El Terrible” Morales whom he battles in a celebrated rematch on January 21 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Morales’s camp had told trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Gary Shaw not to make excuses for Pacquiao's loss last March 19 and told Pacquiao to accept defeat like a man. Pacquiao, in a television interview with Viva Sports said “I am angry over what they said. I admit I lost.”
However, Pacquiao said it was not the same Manny Pacquiao when he fought Morales last March 19 adding “I was not one hundred percent. I took him lightly. I need to change some things.”
This time around Pacquiao said he will have no distractions and will not celebrate his birthday on December 17 or even Christmas saying “I want to have a total celebration on January 21” after the fight with Morales. A superbly confident Pacquiao said “I will bet my life that I will win.”
Told that the Las Vegas odds had him as a favorite Pacquiao shrugged it off stating “I don’t worry about the odds. I’m just focused on the fight. I trained for two weeks in Cebu but this (Wild Card Gym in LA) is where my heavy training is. I will not predict in which round he will fall. But I will do all I can in the ring, knockout or not.”
Team Pacquiao had repeatedly claimed that distractions outside the ring cost Pacquiao the fight including the quarrel over the gloves, ticket allocations, room assignments and a bitter difference with former promoter Murad Muhammad. This angered the Morales camp who claimed Morales beat Pacquiao the first time and he will do it again.
