By Dave Wilcox
The MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas treated a capacity crowd of 14,626 to a tremendous night of Boxing on the strip Saturday night. The World Super Featherweight Championship was the prize for Erik “El Terrible” Morales and Manny Pacquiao in the main event. Coming into the fight this contest seemed to be a can’t miss in terms of excitement. As it turns out, we were all right. These two brave warriors proved yet again that they are two of the finest conditioned athletes in the sport of Boxing. Heart and determination were the status quo this evening of Boxing. When the two fighters entered the ring, the Hispanic and Filipino partisans were going absolutely wild. When Slick Willy Buffer gave the introductions, I can only take your word on what he said. I could hear absolutely nothing except the screaming and chanting of these tremendous fans.
Manny Pacquiao (39-3-2, 30 ko’s) from Manilla was looking to put himself in the forefront and prove he should be on the top of all pound for pound lists. Erik Morales (48-2, 34 ko’s) from Tijuana, Mexico had other plans on this night.
Round one started fast with both guys throwing some leather. Pac-man worked the body well and I gave him the first round by a slim margin. I hope he enjoyed it, because on my unofficial card that would be the only round he would win in quite awhile. As the fight went on, although Pacquiao was not being blown away, it seemed obvious that Morales was fighting his fight and controlling the action. Morales worked the jab effectively throughout the bout and used his big right to pot shot the awkward Pac-man all night. Manny seemed a little confused in there. His legendary power seemed to have no effect on “El Terrible” and every time Manny seemed to get a rally going, Morales would sting him a with a big right and slow Manny back down. In round five, Referee Joe Cortez called time out to check on a mean looking cut on the right brow of Manny Pacquiao. The capacity crowd was nervous for a split second, but a cut wouldn’t stop either one of these tough guys. The bout started up and Morales continued to counter well and do a “pepper” job on Manny’s face. Even though Manny Pacquiao was fighting his heart out, he was starting to look like a beaten fighter. Every exchange seemed to go Morales’ way. When round ten ended, I looked at my scorecard to see what my card looked like. At that point I realized I should have paid more attention in math….but that is a story for another day. Anyway, I looked at my card and realized I had given every damn round except round one to Erik Morales. Even if I was off on my scoring, it seemed clear that Manny Pacquiao would need to score a knockout in the last two rounds to win. As we all know, knocking out Erik Morales is a tall order indeed.
Manny Pacquiao showed what a true champ he was and came out strong to win the last two rounds on my card. Unfortunately for him it was too little, too late. Slick Willy read the cards and all three judges cards looked the same. Judges Paul Smith, Dave Moretti and Chuck Giampa all had the fight scored 115-113 for Erik Morales. My card was more one-sided. I had it 117-111 for Morales.
Manny Paquiao fought his ass off and showed great heart, but “El Terrible” was too much for him. His strength advantage was very apparent early on and his technical advantages proved to be a killer for Pac-man. In my opinion, Morales gave Pacquiao a Boxing lesson Saturday night at the Grand Garden Arena. As it turns out, this bout won’t be fight of the year as a lot of us expected, but it might well be the performance of the year by Erik “El Terrible” Morales. Going into this fight, I picked Manny Pacquiao to win this fight. I figured his power would be too much for Morales. Boy was I wrong! I couldn’t be more impressed with Morales. Congratulations to both men for putting on a great show and once again prove that we don’t need any damn Heavyweights. The action is down below with the men of little stature but huge heart.
On the undercard:
Jorge Arce vs. Hussein Hussein
In probably the fight of the night, in a WBC Elimination bout, Hussein Hussein went in against Jorge Arce to determine who would be the number one contender. This fight was a war with Arce finally being declared the winner when Hussein's corner stepped in and called the bout at 2:07 of round number ten. Arce knocked down Hussein in the first and last rounds and survived a nasty cut on his nose. A new star is born in Jorge Arce. Keep an eye on this tough customer. Hussein’s record fell to 26-2, 20 ko’s and Arce improved to 39-3-1, 29 ko’s.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Ryan Maraldo
The son of the legend continued his young career with a one sided victory over Maraldo from Indianapolis, Indiana. Junior improves his record 17-0 with 12 knockouts. The 19 year old Chavez has some obvious skill, but I hope they don’t push him along too quickly because he is still very green at this point…..VIVA CHAVEZ!
Eric Morel vs. Martin Castillo
Castillo seemed to be the stronger fighter. He worked the body well and came away with a lopsided decision victory over Morel. All three judges’ cards read 119-109 for Castillo. Castillo improves to 28-1 with 16 ko’s and Morel falls to 35-2 with 18 ko’s.
From the “what fight did you watch?” dept…I scored the fight a draw. Guess I’m not as smart as I thought!
In other action:
Mike Alvarado won a unanimous decision over Hilario Lopez in a 6 round Super Lightweight affair.
Albert Sosnowski fought our honorary fat guy of the evening and Knocked out Travis Fulton at 1:29 of round two of this Heavyweight contest.
ZC Gorres won by TKO at 2:03 of round one over juggernaut Glenn Donaire in a Super Flyweight bout.
Press Conference:
Bob Arum was glowing in the press room after this great night of action. He didn’t mind gloating and also mentioning the “other” promoter who puts on bad Middleweight fights in Los Angeles. Don’t you just love these guys? As far as the four televised bouts, Arum said, “Mexico 4, the world 0! Of course he was referring to his beloved Hispanic stable of fighters.
Bill Kaplan of Top Rank told me that in his opinion the two main bouts were the best back to back bouts he has ever seen. He might have been stretching the truth a little, but the Arce-Huseein and Morales-Pacquiao bouts were certainly worth the price of admission. (It’s the ten dollar Beer that gets to me)
Jorge Arce looked like a character from Dawn of the Dead with that horrible cut, but he was all smiles. He did the usual thanking of Arum and HBO and then quickly turned the mic over to the Great Erik Morales. “I controlled the fight and am pleased that I could win this for my fans” said Morales. “I knew Pacquiao had courage, but I would not lose tonight.” “I really didn’t feel any of his power and was never hurt.”
Bob Arum interrupted Morales to bring on Manny because they had to rush Pac-man to the hospital to take care of his souvenir from the bout. Pacquiao thanked the fans for all of the support. “I hoped you liked the fight.” Said Pac-man. He went on to say that the cut really impaired his vision and he couldn’t see through his right eye. Manny plans on staying at Jr. Lightweight for now.
Trainer Freddie Roach was his usual classy self and praised both fighters and lobbied for the rematch.
To end the press conference, Bob Arum indicated it was “Fiesta Time!!”
Upcoming:
-On Saturday March 26th at 9:45 eastern and pacific, HBO will show the replay of Morales vs. Pacquiao before their live fight featuring the return of Fernando Vargas as he goes against Raymond Joval from Texas.
-Famoso Hernandez and Jesus Chaves were in attendance to promote their upcoming bout in Los Angeles at The Staples Center on May 28th. Also on that card will be the Chavez family road show. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will be on the card, as will “pops”. Senior will take on Ivan Robinson. I can’t honestly say I’m looking forward to watching old man Chavez fight. The Hernandez-Chaves fight should be excellent and I can’t wait for that one.
-Bob Arum announced that on July 9th, he will have his “Million Dollar Lady” card. The Ladies bout will feature Lucia Riker vs. Christy Martin with the winner taking home 1 million green backs. That’s the bad news; the good news is that Jorge Arce will get a title shot on the same card. The fights will be held at the new home of Boxing, The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Random thoughts:
-If only there were more nights like this in Boxing. True warriors fighting their asses off. It doesn’t get any better than this.
-Saw Mike Tyson again at Ringside. He was sitting directly behind me. Do you think he is following me?
-Jeff Fenech was with Tyson and the rumor seems to be true that Fenech is the trainer for Iron Mike. Why not, Tyson has tried everyone else.
-Gotta run, I have a lot of drinking and gambling to do……….errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….I mean reporting and finding interviews.
-God Bless Las Vegas!!!!!!
Keep punching