ERIK THE FAR FROM TERRIBLE

January 20, 2006 - by Ron Borges

Erik Morales has grown weary of the debate. The three-time world champion cares not a whit what gloves he and Manny Pacquiao wear on their hands Jan. 21 when they enter the ring at the Thomas and Mack Center in what is expected to be a monumental rematch. All Morales cares about is that his hands are within range of Pacquiao often enough to do what he wants with him - which is to beat back his challenge for the second time in a year.

"It is not really important,'' Morales said of the glove controversy this week. "It is a side issue. I am going to be wearing gloves when I go into the ring whether it be WINNING (brand) or REYES. It doesn't matter. As long as people see a lot of leather flying, I don't think they care which name is on the gloves.''

They may not but Pacquiao apparently does. He has made an issue of how his his former promoter sold away his rights to wear REYES, which are known in some boxing circles as "punchers glove,'' against Morales and he has attributed the consequent use of WINNING gloves rather than REYES plus other internal distractions inside his training camp as the reasons for his lackluster and ultimately losing performance against the great Mexican champion last year.

Morales (48-3, 34 KO) hears such things and scoffs. To him such words are like a bitter lemon on his lips. He won that unanimous decision, he believes, not because of the gloves they wore but because of what he did with them, cutting Pacquiao's eye badly early in the fight and so unsettling him that the one-time 122-pound champion never seemed to ind himself until late in the fight when he began to come on and finally back Morales up.

By then it was too late for Pacquiao to win in any fashion but with a knockout and that was not going to happen. Not then wearing WINNING gloves and not Saturday night sporting REYES or anything else he wants on his hands short of cement.

"I think psychologically maybe for him his wearing the gloves makes him feel that he's a stronger puncher than he really is,'' Morales said, disdain dripping from his voice like sweat from his brow in mid-workout. "I don't know. All I can tell you is that I fight with both kinds of gloves and I knock people out with both kinds of gloves. So I know the gloves don't mean anything. It's how hard a puncher you are. It is not a question of gloves. It's a question of how strong you are.

"I understand now the rules allow him to wear whatever gloves he wants and I will wear whatever gloves I want. It is not an issue. Not to me any way. The issue is to be ready to fight. That is all I think about.''

Morales knows he was not ready to fight last fall when he lost a stunning unanimous decision to Zahir Raheem after moving up from 130 pounds to the 135-pound limit. Morales seemed one step behind all night against the fast moving and slick boxing Raheem. No longer did he hold the kind of size advantage he has on Pacquiao, who will again be the smaller man trying to survive at junior lightweight when he is a more natural featherweight or less, and some feel he paid for it.

Size however was not so much the problem against Raheem as it was Raheem's speed and an apparent lack of fire burning inside a man who has for all his career succeeded because those flames burned so brightly. At 29, his doubters wonder, has the Aztec warrior finally flamed out after too many toe-to-toe wars with the likes of Pacquiao and countryman and arch rival Marco Antonio Barrera, who he has fought three times but beaten only once?

Perhaps so, because fighters with Morales' willingness to trade and refusal to take a backwards step once a brawl breaks out leave a piece of themselves in the ring nearly every time they enter it that cannot be replaced. Yet while Morales understands the toll his style has taken on him he firmly believes it has not diminished his skills, only burnished his reputation. As his rematch with Pacquiao approaches that is what is on his mind. He not thinking about gloves or about defeat but rather of what another grand victory will do for his legend.

"You prepare yourself to win,'' Morales said. "That is what I'm going out there to do. To win. Losing is not in a winner's mentality. I believe in what I am doing.''

What Morales has been doing is preparing in Mexico under the baleful stare of a new trainer, Jose Luis Lopez, Sr. Lopez replaces Morales' father after a falling out Morales claims was more a function of his father's advancing years than the fact he has lost two of his last three fights and is for the second time entering a match with Pacquiao while coming off a defeat.

The last time this happened many wrote Morales off after Barrera won a majority decision from him that most observers at ringside did not feel was that close. But he came back with a vengeance against Pacquiao, slicing open his opponent's eye and repeatedly backing him up with his superior strength and fire power.

Now the situation, and the questions, are much the same as Morales tries to come back from the disappointment of losing to Raheem in the same way he did the loss to Barrera - by making Manny Pacquiao pay for it.

"Losses shouldn't bring out the best in you but you know somehow they do in me,'' Morales said. "There is nothing you can do about those things that are already in the past but I know what I'm capable of doing and what I want to do in this fight.

"They can say all they want that they're going to be more aggressive. They are going to do this and they are going to do that. But they are not fighting by themselves. There is going to be somebody in front of them and that is going to be me. I don't back away from a fight. If they want to fight, I am ready for it if that is what they want."

>"Everybody has a plan but you still have to do it up in that ring. He has a promoter and a trainer who talk a lot. I hope they have a fighter good enough to execute what they think they can do against me.''

"I am hearing them say they've been watching videos and they think that speed is going to be a big factor for them,'' Morales said. "We'll see. If they make adjustments I probably will have to risk more but I don't feel after the first fight that he is strong enough to knock me out. I think I can take more risks now that I fought with him a few rounds and know what he can do.

"When you look at the first fight, you see the abilities I have to do things that he can't do. You can learn by going 12 rounds with a guy. I know he's strong. I know he's fast. I know he's a good fighter. But I also learned he's not as strong as a lot of people think. One of his keys has been to intimidate people in the ring. I don't get intimidated up in the ring.''

Erik Morales will not be intimidated by Manny Pacquiao or the gloves he's wearing Saturday night. Instead, he will bring to the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas the same intentions he has always brought to every arena he's ever walked into - bad intentions. Very bad intentions.

"My last fight was an embarassment,'' Morales said of his loss to Raheem. "I should have done better. That never should have happened what happened my last fight. That is why I want to do real well in this fight. I want to show what I can do and get some credibility back. You know what people want to see. They want to see a guy be aggressive. They want to see a guy take risks. I'm willing to do that. That is what people expect of me.''

More importantly, it's what Erik Morales expects of himself. If Manny Pacquiao doesn't expect the same, the gloves he's wearing won't be much good to him.