Morales-Pacquiao I: we all should have known what was coming

[DiegoFuego]

If you watch their first fight, in retrospect, there was absolutely no reason to think Morales could have beaten Pacquiao the second time around. Pacquiao was giving Morales hell nearly every round, even while wiping at his cut throughout the whole second half of the fight. Morales did not win as clearly as I previously thought. Now I did give Pacman pretty much all the rounds that seemed close (because he hits so ridiculously hard, you can't give Morales a round unless he outlands Pacquiao in power punches). Most of the fight, Morales is landing killer jabs, but Pacquiao's power punching completely negates it. The right hook was a monster for Pacquiao in this fight. I have it 115-113 for Morales just like the judges, but this fight was damn close, unanimous decision or not...and remember, that's WITH Pacquiao's horrible cut. Sure, Morales probably could have won easier had he not turned southpaw in the 12th, but that's just who he is, and you gotta love Morales for it. He didn't wanna coast at the end. He wanted to close the show with a ****, and every fan in that arena had to be thankful for that.

I'd forgotten how much I love this fight, but watching it again, especially now, it's so obvious that Pacquiao could have won that fight and would definitely win a rematch (which he did). Morales takes way more damage in the fight, and it probably hurt his career big time, but if he hadn't fought Pacquiao, we all would be debating what would have happened years later. As it stands, Morales stood toe to toe with one of the hardest punchers p4p in the sport and survived a hell of a fight. I actually picked Pacquiao to win the first one, then picked Morales to win the rematch, going against my gut feeling both times. Morales is a true warrior and a real man for taking on Pacquiao when Barrera wouldn't, but Pacquiao was simply too much for him.

[DiegoFuego]

Another thing I noticed is how tough judges have it. If you watch round 11 in regular speed, it appears Morales wins it fairly easily. All 3 judges gave it to him and so did the announcers and Lederman. But if you watch it in slow motion, Pacquiao actually crushes Morales that round. He may be fighting in spurts, but when he starts nailing Morales, he is just punishing the hell out of him with both hands. So how the **** do you score it? Crazy, but worth a look for everybody who has this on tape. Check it in slow motion. A lot of rounds really.

[Mr. Ryan]

I saw that Morales clearly won the first fight, but I was absolutely shocked that he would take a rematch that he didn't have to after I saw how hard he made Morales fight. With all the ring wars, I knew Morales couldn't repeat the same effort. I was hardly shocked at the outcome of the rematch, but all credit due to Morales for accepting such a difficult task.

[Chups]

I saw that Morales clearly won the first fight, but I was absolutely shocked that he would take a rematch that he didn't have to after I saw how hard he made Morales fight. With all the ring wars, I knew Morales couldn't repeat the same effort. I was hardly shocked at the outcome of the rematch, but all credit due to Morales for accepting such a difficult task.

Morales didn't want the rematch...during that time he was actually having 2nd thoughts about it. It was when he lost to Raheem that he completely agreed to it so he can bring back his glory by winning against Pac again.

[DiegoFuego]

Larry Merchant actually scored it a draw. The rounds Pacquiao could be argued to have won are 1 (clearly Pacquiao), 3, 7, 9, 11, and 12 (clearly Pacquiao). Honestly, the whole fight could have hung in the balance on that 11th round, but I'm telling you, Pacquiao whoops ass in that round even though only Larry Merchant (the oldest dude) manages to see it. I gotta admit, in fast motion, I don't see it either, but in slo mo, Pacman rips into him. Is it possible that handspeed at that weight (when the effects are not always visible unlike say a Roy Jones punch) could actually be counter-productive in the event of a decision?

[Mishra100]

The cut and the gloves were the blamed elements of the first fight.

[hectari]

I actually had morales winning by 1 point but I thought it was gonna be a draw...if you watch the fight it looks like pacquiao could of won it because of his aggressive spurts but he lost focus when he was focusing on the cut...if the fight went 15 rounds pacman would of pulled thru cause he rocked morales at round 12.

the funny thing is...how all these pac haters were saying morales schooled pacman? wtf how can you school someone when it was a war not a schooling...schooling is like floyd mayweather jr vs arturo gatti.

[shortright]

i had morales 115 113, great great fight two warriors, i hope people dont overlook it when talking about morales its may be his greatest victory, pacman showed great heart in that fight

[shortright]

by the way lampley is a nuthugging little ***** pac was wining the 3rd round and lampley is on morales jock rjj to talking about how morales is embarrasing pac in front of his hometown, and merchant is saying calmdown fools

[hectari]

by the way lampley is a nuthugging little ***** pac was wining the 3rd round and lampley is on morales jock rjj to talking about how morales is embarrasing pac in front of his hometown, and merchant is saying calmdown fools

lmao ya that was funny how jones jr said that! its funny cause it was a pro morales crowd...more mexicans showed up that fight.

and merchant was the voice of reason merchant is one witty dude.