MANNY PACQUIAO IS BACK!

January 12, 2006 - by Ron Borges

They are fighting for a meaningless title and for an equally meaningless spot as the World Boxing Council's mandatory challenger for the super featherweight title on Jan. 21 and they both know it. That's why neither of those things matter to Manny Pacquiao or Erik Morales. All that will matter to either of them that night is the presence of the other.

For fighters as skilled and popular as Morales and Pacquiao there is no longer a need to wear a champion's belt. They are nice, albeit a bit gaudy, but they are not necessary because they have each other and they have Marco Antonio Barrera and they have reputations for the one thing that matters these days in boxing. When they come into the ring a fight is going to break out. Guaranteed.

That's what happened last March 19 when Morales surprised Pacquiao, and many ringside observers, by fighting far more effectively than he had in losing to Barrera for the second time in three outings in his last match. When the first bell sounded, many believed Morales was no longer what he had been, his skills worn down from too many punches and too many nights exhibiting the warrior's heart he wears on his sleeve. By the time the final one echoed through the arena they all knew otherwise.

Morales cut Pacquiao badly in the fifth round and it seemed to take several rounds for the hard-punching Filipino to settle down and get adjusted to his impaired vision. He also seemed oddly lackluster, often backed against the ropes and seldom using his jab the way trainer Freddie Roach had hoped he would.

Now it is 10 months later and they are ready to get back at it with Morales in much the same situation. Once again he is coming off a loss, this time a stunning upset at 135 pounds against Zahir Raheem, a fighter who unexpectedly exposed Morales' problem with speed and movement. Not surprisingly, once again critics are wondering if perhaps the great Aztec warrior has finally begun to slip at the age of 29, a spent shell who managed to find a way to beat a distracted Pacquiao last year but is now facing an opponent training with fewer distractions and a heightened sense of what Morales brings to the ring.

"I'm more focused on the fight,'' Pacquiao (40-3-2, 32 KO) said from his Los Angeles training camp this week. "None of the distractions from the last fight over rooms, tickets and gloves. I can train in peace knowing my team is looking out for me.''

What they are looking at most are the gloves Pacquiao will wear. The familiar red REYES gloves that are considered "puncher's gloves'' among those who ply the boxing trade. Last time out, Pacquiao thought he was going to be wearing those same gloves against Barrera but a dispute arose and he was ultimately forced to use WINNING gloves, a differently designed model that Pacquiao's trainer Freddy Roach calls "like pillows. They're not punchers' gloves.'' The reason he had to wear them is his then manager sold out his right to dictate what would be on his hands.

Yet after he'd been beaten by Morales and talk of the gloves' part in that loss came to light it was difficult not to immediately wonder how often someone like Henry Armstrong or Beau Jack or Willie Pep worried about the brand name on their gloves. One thinks not too often but these are different times in sports, times where the littlest thing can become a dreaded "distraction.''

To hear Pacquio tell it, he was overwhelmed not so much by Morales, who won a unanimous 12-round decision from him last March 19, but by the draining effect of too many fans at his workouts, too many calls for tickets and hotel rooms and most of all learning too late that he would not be wearing the gloves he favored. All of those things have been eliminated this time however, even down to the red REYES he'll slip his hands into Jan. 21 just before HBO turns up the TV lights on him and Morales to kick off a new year of boxing with an expected B-A-N-G. Or BANGBANGBANG to be more specific.

Of course, Morales will be wearing those same puncher's gloves this time so the expectation is that something explosive could happen before the night is out. Something Roach, at least, implied can lead to only one thing. An early and unexpected siesta for Erik Morales. "He's a great puncher,'' Roach said of Pacquiao. "I do believe the gloves make a difference. We won't be wearing pillows this time, we'll be wearing REYES. I hear Morales is going to wear them also, so it should be exciting.''

For one of them it will also very likely be a night that sets them up for another big-money fight with Barrera. If it's Morales (48-3, 34 KO) it would mean a fourth altercation with his Mexican alter ego. If it's Pacquiao it would mean he has a chance to beat the two most popular active Mexican fighters very likely in the same calendar year. But Pacquiao seems to have learned his lesson from 10 months ago. He will not be distracted this time even by talk of a big pay day with Barrera because he learned the very hard way that if he cannot handle Morales' pressure and aggressiveness what follows won't be another big payday. It will be a backward step.

"I want nothing more than to beat Morales,'' Pacquiao said. "Maybe we will do a Barrera fight but right now I'm only focusing on the Morales fight. He's the hardest one I ever fought.''

As he has in the past, Pacquiao promised to use his jab more and Roach assured anyone who asked that his fighter would use his speed this time because they saw the problems speed caused Morales when he got in with Raheem. Pacquiao assured his questioners that he is more focused this time, more serene, more committed to boxing as well as simply looking to land the kind of big power shot that has rendered 32 of the 40 men he's beaten unconscious. But, in the end, they all know what this fight will most likely be.

It will not likely to be about jabbing and movement. It will not be a stalking match, two men taking the measure of each other while looking to land quickly and then disappear into the safety of the shadows. Not on your life.

"You know the exchanges are going to definitely happen because that's in Manny's character,'' Roach said but he could have been speaking about either fighter. "People are going to advise Manny. They want to change him into this or that but you can't change a person. It's his personality. He likes to fight. He likes to engage in a fight. So the exchanges will happen. There's no doubt about that.

"You know the thing is it's going to be a very tough fight. Morales is a game guy and it's going to be great for the fans. But I wouldn't be surprised if Manny knocked out Morales. If he sticks to the game plan and does what he has to do in the fight I think I could see him knocking this guy out. The guy is a very game guy and a very tough guy and I don't know if he's ever been knocked out but there's always a first time.''

"Some people feel that Pacquiao was not at his best when I beat him,'' Morales said last week. "I think he was. But if there are some doubts about my victory last spring I'll erase them in the second fight.''

That didn't sound much like a guy worrying about what kind of gloves Manny Pacquiao will be wearing. It sounded like a guy who believes he'll be wearing gloves to. And using them.