Pacquiao vs Morales III

Tomorrow, Manny Pacquiao, the pride of Asian will face up to the future Boxing Hall of Famer Erik "El Terrible" Morales. Today, I am here to breakdown this rubber match from five aspects:

Styles:

Pacquiao is possibly the most devastating puncher in today's boxing while Morales is more versatile and has the advantage in boxing capability. He is a complete fighter who can box and defend with equal degree of success, but that was true when it was a younger Morales. The left-hander Pacquiao has polished his jab while developed a sharp and crisp right hook in his arsenal. These weapons will pose too many threats for Morales.

Going with heavy equipment over versatility, I'll go with Pacquiao in this first and all-important category.

Stamina:

In his last bout with Pacquiao, Morales collapsed during the late rounds due to the weight fluctuation. This time, El Terrible came back declaring that there will be no physical problem. I trust him. He went on a very strict training session for months. Let us put it aside and read something about the Filipino.

From his last fight against Larios, we can see no problem with the Pacman's stamina. He fought with incredibly sustained intensity and knocked down Lario twice with a series of cruel combinations.

On the whole, I give Pacquiao a slight edge in this parameter.

Durability and Chin:

In retrospect from his three losses, two of them are by KOs, the last in 1999 by the very capable Medgoen Singsurat and another by Rustico Torrecampo ten years ago. This might be a crack in the Pacquiao armor.

In contrast, Morales was never beaten up by way of knock out before the second Pacquiao fight. His reliability to take punches is by no means questionable.

Adequate advantage to Morales.

Reach and Weight:

Pacquiao is 5'6" with a 67" reach while Morales stands 5'8" and reaches 72". The bout was to be fought at 130 pounds, but Morales will likely have great difficulty making that weight while Manny will be comfortable.

However, for some inexplicable reasons, Pacquiao has now apparently decided to allow Morales to weigh as much as 132 lbs instead of the agreed 130lb limit. This unnecessary mercy can be dangerous for Pacquiao.

Erik has the advantage in reach, and now the weight issue is not at issue. Consequently, Morales has a bigger advantage.

Experience:

The 30 year-old Morales is only two years older than his opponent, but he, in terms of wear and tear, is actually older having too many ferocious battles against quality opposition in his 52 pro fights. Since turning pro at 16, he clutched a number of spectacular wins over such top adversaries as Marco Antonio Barrera, Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez and of course the Pacman Pacquiao.

Compare with Morales, Pacquiao has 43 fights under his belt with 31 KOs. Clearly has a edge in KO percentage, but more importantly, he has fought the top-class Mexican heroes such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar Larios, Juan Manuel Marquez and of course Erik Morales. He concluded with great results and was called "the Mexican Terminator" henceforth.

All in all, both are warriors who have fought and beat solid oppositions. Who will win this category? I give them a tie.

Prediction:

Morales has a big and an adequate advantage while Pacquiao wins two categories with an edge in the most important parameter and a minor advantage in another.

According to the analysis above, this will be a very close fight, but the scale of victory slips to Morales's side a little bit.

Read by Zhenyu Li,sports writer for People's Daily online

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD Online. The article represents the writer's views only