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Thursday, August 31, 2006
Morales out in 7: Roach
By Mike Limpag Sun.Star Staff Reporter
After handing Mexican legend Erik "El Terrible" Morales his first knockdown in the 10th round of their second fight, Manny Pacquiao's handler is aiming for a seventh-round stoppage in their third encounter on Nov. 18 in Las Vegas.
"We are going to go in and knock him out in the first seven. We are going to put pressure on him for every minute of every round and find out what kind of condition he's really in. We are going to be ready to go 12 hard, hard rounds," renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach told Mark Vester of boxingscene.com.
Morales' 10th-round knockout loss to Pacquiao last March was the first of his 13-year career. Morales, who holds a 48-4 record with 34 KOs, also lost to bitter rival Marco Antonio Barrera twice and to Zahir Raheem by unanimous decision.
Mistake
Despite Roach's prediction, Pacquiao's camp isn't belittling Morales, which was their mistake, Roach admitted, during their first fight, which a bloodied Pacquiao lost.
"We lost the first fight. I made an excuse and said that we took him lightly. I think we did take him lightly because we thought he was washed-up and (was) just taking a payday," Roach said.
Roach also belied reports that Morales is already a has-been fighter, saying that fans will see the best of Morales in Morales-Pacquiao III.
"He was embarrassed in the second fight. He's a proud person. He's a fighter. This is going to be the toughest fight of Manny's life," said Roach.
Morales has stressed that it was his effort to make the weight for his second match that led to his loss.
Training ‘going bad’
As Morales trains with a group of consultants helping him to make weight for the fight, Roach said he is "going to make Pacquiao go through the toughest training camp of his career."
But another report said Morales' training is going badly and that the Mexican is getting hammered in his sparring sessions.
Pedro Fernandez said in ringtalk.com that Edwin Valero, who holds a 20-0 record, was hammering Morales in their sparring sessions.
"Erik has 'future knockout victim’ scrawled all over him. With this, a week less than three months away from fighting Manny Pacquiao, Erik will be so drained come Nov. 18 that he will be lucky to last six (rounds) with the Filipino blaster," Fernandez said.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 31, 2006 issue)
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