By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The courageous Filipino heart and the incredible gallantry of Ring Magazine and IBA featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao were not enough to overcome a nasty cut suffered because of a headbutt in round three that impaired his vision in an epic twelve round war with Erik "El Terrible"Morales who scored a unanimous decision and reestablished himself as one of the truly great champions of our time.
Over twenty thousand people packed the MGM Grand Garden Arena which usually holds just over 14,000 fight fans. They witnessed an enthralling encounter between the bigger, more experienced Morales and the little Filipino southpaw who fired the imagination of boxing fans and won the respect and admiration of Morales as well as Mexicans, with many boxing writers saying this was an early favorite for "Fight of the Year."
A huge contingent of top officials from the Philippines led by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo waved Philippine flags and chanted Pacquiao's name as the fighters entered the ring and for the first time at the MGM Grand the Mexican fight fans may have outnumbered the Filipinos but failed to drown out their impassioned cheers for the poor boy from General Santos City who has become a national treasure.
Among those at ringside were former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson who had picked Pacquiao to win and the all-time Mexican great Julio Cesar Chavez. All three judges Paul Smith, Dave Moretti and Chuck Giampa turned in identical scorecards of 115-113 for Morales who won seven rounds as against five by Pacquiao.
In one last heroic effort with blood streaming down his face Pacquiao launched a furious assault in the final round and staggered Morales but failed to put him away. Pacquiao knew he had lost the fight and his anguish at the disappointment suffered by eighty million Filipinos was clearly etched on his face. However, to the credit of the huge contingent
of Filipinos many of whom paid $400 for a ringside ticket, not one criticized Pacquiao. They were, together with Mexican boxing fans and Americans, full of praise for Pacquiao and his gallantry.
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum who promoted the blockbuster fight card along with international promoter Murad Muhammad of M&M Sports told Manila Standard Today that Pacquiao won the hearts of boxing fans all over the world with his gallant stand and said the performance of the flamboyant Filipino earned him the right to a rematch. Arum said he would "advise Pacquiao to get his eye treated, take a rest and then perhaps we could talk about a rematch even later this year"
and indicated a trilogy similar to that between Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera was "quite possible."
In the post fight press conference Morales praised Pacquiao as "a true warrior" and said he had "great speed, was strong and had power" but while Pacquiao thanked the fans and said they were treated to a great fight, trainer Freddie Roach regrettably used the occasion to raise the issue of the gloves and claimed that the next time Pacquiao fought he would use Cleto Reyes gloves which had less padding and were regarded as a puncher's gloves, instead of the more expensive Winning gloves.
One Mexican sportswriter said "if Morales wore Reyes gloves Pacquiao would have been knocked out since he was in trouble on at least two occasions in the fight" when Morales nailed him with vicious rights.
The stirring rendition of the Philippine National Anthem by diva Lani Misaluchia fired up the huge Philippine contingent which also included Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric Buhain, governor Chavit Singson who visited Pacquiao at his hotel suite before he left for the fight where the Filipinos headed by business manager Rod Nazario recited the rosary and prayed for Pacquiao. Also at ringside looking dapper in a suit was popular movie star Cesar Montano who was up on his feet cheering Pacquiao especially when he went after Morales with both fists blazing in the final round.
Pacquiao started off well and took the opening round with some stiff jabs and a couple of combinations. But Morales quickly evened the score by taking the second round using his reach to advantage. Pacquiao charged back to take the third round when a head-butt opened a gash over his right eye which began to bother him even more as the fight wore on. Moraes finding the range and moving well caught Pacquiao with a solid uppercut and snapped his head back in the fifth round with a right and began to take charge but the "Pacman" grit hisn teeth and weathered the storm to launch his own counter attack to seize the initiative in round nine when he hurt Morales with a couple of body stinging body shots.
With the Mexican in seeming control of the fight in rounds ten and eleven Pacquiao's only hope was a knockout. Realizing he was behind on points Pacquiao launched a furious attack and had Morales reeling backwards and obviously hurt. But despite his desperate effort to score a knockout Morales stood strong and went on to win a well-deserved decision. Morales improved to 48-2 with 34 KO's while Pacquiao dropped to 39-3-2 with 30 KO's.
Cutman Leny De Jesus had to be commended for doing a great job to stop the cut from getting worse and bleeding too much. In fact Pacquiao had to leave the post fight press conference to go to a hospital to get the cut sewn up. De Jesus said "it wasn't such a bad cut but it impaired
Manny's vision." At the same time the veteran who is considered one of the best in the business said Morales foiught an intelligent fight and it was his best. "Erik can't improve anymore but Manny is young and has so much potential to grow. One thing for sure you've got to love this kid for his courage and gallantry."
In terms of the Compu Box stats Pacquiao threw more punches than Morales, 894 to 714 but Morales connected with 265 to Pacquiao's 217 for a percentage disparity of 37 percent to 24 percent. Pacquiao also threw more jabs, 349 to 303 but connected only with 34 whereas
Morales using his reach to advantage connected with 96 to Pacquiao's 34 with a 32 to 10 percent advantage for the Mexican. Even in terms of power punches, Pacquiao threw 545 to 411 by Morales but again Morales was ahead on percentages, 41 to 34.
In the opening bout of the evening Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation No. 1 ranked super flyweight Z "The Dream" Gorres made an impressive US debut scoring a TKO victory over highly touted Fil-Am Glenn Donaire at 2:03 seconds of the very first round. Gorres who is trained by two-time world champion Buddy McGirt dropped Donaire with a solid bodyn shot early in the round but the referee ruled that the heads clashed and gave Donaire time to recoover. However, Gorres who used his jab effectively faked with a right and then threw a perfectly-timed right cross that caught Donaire flush on the chin and sent him sprawling on the canvas with referee Jay Nady deciding to stop the contest.
McGirt told Manila Standard Today he was "very pleased"with the showing of Gorres and predicted he could be a a future world champion.With his victory Gorres improved to 19-1-1 with 10 KO's and is likely to get another fight in the US soon with Murad Muhammad acting as his representative on the authority given him by WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud who co-manages the flashy southpaw with well known Cebu boxing patron Tony Aldeguer.