Winpower. 31 March 2007
Posted by frankahilario in champion, Eric Morales, faith, knockout, Manny Pacquiao, science.add a comment
Or, Paquiao’s Sense
Knocks Out Morales’ Science
Erik Morales’ Reason told him that Science belonged in the Top Rank if he wanted to win – and he did. Manny Pacquiao’s personal Faith told him that his uncommon Sense was the way to go if he wanted to win – and he did.
Faith won over Reason on the 18th of November (19th, Manila time) at the Thomas & Mack Event Center at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, where Sense knocked out Science in the 3rd round of the WBC International Super-Featherweight title fight when Filipino Manny Pacquiao boxed Mexican Erik Morales out of history. Pacquiao gave Morales his ‘Grand Finale.’
It was Pacquiao’s determination and tonight wasn’t my night. He’s very fast and he punches very hard, giving no quarter. The Filipino has a quick left hand and I couldn’t see a lot of them coming. I don’t know what was wrong but that wasn’t me out there. I am going to relax now and take some time with my family. I respect Manny Pacquiao. He’s the true champion.
Pacquiao is the true champion: Who said that? Not Erik Morales The Defeated and not in 2006 but another Mexican, Marco Antonio Barrera The Defeated in 2003. What Morales actually said was this (Greg Beacham, 19 Nov, Canadian Press, canada.com/):
He was too fast and too strong.
As did Barrera, Morales learned his lesson too late. He wasn’t reading the news. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said days before the fight (Robert Morales, 15 Nov, 15rounds.com/), describing his boy: ‘The power and speed are unbelievable.’ And so the ‘Grand Finale’ made Morales a believer.
In fact, I have 7 explanations for Morales’ misery:
(1) It was karma.
It was Morales who had destroyed himself prior to the fight. The reality of his reputation as ‘El Terrible’ (The Terrible) caught up with him – millions all over the world saw on TV that day that his sharp punches were only as strong as his insults. He had been using punches and pejoratives in demolishing his opponents: Carlos Hernandez, Jesus Chavez, Guty Espadas Jr, Fernando Velardez, Eddie Croft, Paulie Ayala, Rodney Jones, Kevin Kelley, Mike Juarez, Reynante Jamili and many others. One of hundreds of impoverished Tijuana kids, Morales had escaped from the dark streets to the brilliant lights of the boxing ring, carrying the same old boy in him: ‘fearsome … overbearing … a sneering, snarling predator whose business was the assembly of a grand legacy’ (Jim Cawkwell, 19 Oct, boxingscene.com/). What you sow is what you reap. This time his lie caught up with him. Pacquiao is a street fighter like Morales but he’s clean where the other is only mean. In Pacquiao, Morales met more than his match – he met his fate.
(2) It was also the science of it.
The Exercise Physiologist of Velocity Sports Performance (Los Angeles) commissioned by Top Rank Big Boss Bob Arum to monitor Morales’ training, Jorgen Persson said Erik Morales was ‘in tiptop shape and strong’ going into the fight from his training at the Otomi High Altitude Training Center, high in the mountains over Toluca in Mexico (James Blears, 21 Oct, boxingscene.com/). At the weigh-in 30 days before the fight, Morales was 142 pounds, 12 above the target. Persson said:
Erik can lose the remaining weight gradually which is good, because he’s not going to get burned out, and he’s not going to become what in technical terms is called catabolic. If you don’t eat enough your body actually starts using up your muscles and you fatigue, which could have been what happened in the previous fight, where he didn’t time the gradual progression of weight loss. That is not going to happen this time!
To me that was too much science.
Persson didn’t stop there. In another occasion, he said (Salven Lagumbay, 2 Nov, specials.inq7.net/):
The improved difference you will see on November 18 (will be) a direct result of an intelligent sponsor, caring coaches and a great boxer thinking ahead by embracing traditional knowhow and progressive conditioning science.
Also too much talk about science.
To Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, it was too little science. He did not believe that body conditioning such as what they do in personal velocity training will work well with boxers since it has been designed for athletes other than boxers (Morales, 15 Nov). ‘Boxing is a different sport from other conditioning sport.’ Roach was right. So now, in any case, somebody has to redo his science – without Velocity.
(3) It was also the training.
Homer Sayson describes a day (and then some) in the life of Manny Pacquiao in training (27 Oct, sunstar.com/):
He rises at 6 AM. He slips into a running outfit … then darts into the streets of a megalopolis that is just slowly getting up on its feet. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Manny jogs only on flat surfaces around Sunset Blvd … On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, he runs at Griffith Park and the hilly terrains that lead to the world-famous Hollywood sign.
He takes a nap at 9:30 AM … At around 11:30, he rushes over to (Freddie Roach’s LA) Wild Card Gym. … From 12:00 to 3:00, Manny is in constant motion. And under the watchful eye of uber trainer Freddie Roach, PacMan spars, punches bags, abuses the speed ball and skips ropes. Somewhere in between … does 200 to 300 sit-ups.
Morales can do all that himself, right? Right. Maybe, Morales even trains like Pacquiao, who Jake Joson describes is like ‘an animal in the ring’ as he is out to finish his opponent in the early rounds, out ‘to fight like there’s no tomorrow’ (Abac Cordero, 8 Nov, abs-cbnnews.com/).
Enough? That’s not all Pacquiao does. After a long day at Roach’s gym, Manny surfs the Internet, or reads (yes, reads), or just hangs out in his abode at Sunset Blvd. Dinner at six. After that, he ‘devotes some time on a new album that will be released soon’ that which ‘might not win a Grammy, but boy, it’s good enough to go gold, if not platinum’ (Sayson, 27 Oct). I can see that Manny Pacquiao is fighting on all fronts while Erik Morales is only fighting all his demons.
(4) It was also the mind-reading.
Jorgen Persson said of Erik Morales (Blears, 21 Oct):
Erik is possibly the most intelligent boxer I’ve worked with. He is very dedicated … to accomplishing his goals. He doesn’t need any baby sitting. He knows what he’s doing. … Overall, he’s very capable of taking care of himself.’
If Morales thought that of himself, he was misreading himself.
Actually, that was a huge misreading of a mind by an expert.
Jose Morales, Erik’s trainer, himself misread the mind of the son when the father said, ‘We’re working with enthusiasm and we’re going to triumph definitively against Manny Pacquiao like the first time’ (Blears, 21 Oct).
Bob Arum, Chairman of the Board of Top Rank, misread Pacquiao too. He said: ‘If you’re going to fight Manny Pacquiao successfully, you have to be in top, top condition because he’s going to out-work you’ (Morales, 15 Nov). Wrong. Pacquiao didn’t out-work Morales – he out-thought him. He thought of everything, including rejecting the idea of weight reduction by nutrition, the selling point of Velocity Sports Performance, including polishing his right hook.
(5) It was also the tactic.
In the first Pacquiao-Morales fight, Pacquiao got a nasty cut above the right eye, and that spelled the difference. ‘The problem was the cut,’ I heard Pacquiao say afterwards, on TV; ‘I couldn’t see with my right eye anymore.’ The problem was that it was caused by a head-butt by Morales, as shown by television replays (Ronnie Nathanielsz, 23 Oct, boxingscene.com/). Morales won using his head the first time, by head-butting. And so one of Pacquiao’s Grand Finale tactics was to not get in the way of the head of Morales. This time, both used their heads and the more intelligent man finaled the lesser man.
(6) It was also the thinking.
Those not in the camp of Manny Pacquiao didn’t think the boy from countryside Philippines could demolish their boy from countryside Mexico and the US of A.
Just before the fight, the TigerBoxing staff were polled; here’s the results (18 Nov, tigerboxing.com/): * Franklin McNeil, Pacquiao in 9. * Kieran Mulvaney, Morales in 12. * Todd Thorps, Pacquiao by decision. * Ian Palmer, Morales wins. * Lyle Fitzsimmons, Morales in 12. * Nat Gottlieb, Morales by TKO in 10. * Shawn Krest, Morales 114-113. * Tom Thompson, Pacquiao in 12.
No one got it right! No one hinted at the intelligence and power and speed of Pacquiao over El Terrible Morales. What’s the matter – not using their intelligence? Not so. It was a matter of prejudice, a matter of colors: white is always better than brown.
Only Bob Arum seems to have gotten it right, in a sense. He said days before the fight (TR, 14 Nov, 15rounds.com/):
As good as the first two fights were, the third fight is going to be the best fight. The third fight will be remembered in boxing history forever. Trust me – it will be one of the great, great fights in history.
Was anyone listening to Arum that day? Good. He meant Morales was going to demolish Pacquiao and send his career to the boondocks of General Santos City where it had come from in the first place. Still, Arum was right: The Grand Finale is now written as one of the greatest lost fights in boxing history.
(7) It was also the pride.
Always the pride before the fall. According to Joaquin Henson (18 Oct, Philippine Star, abs-cbn.com/), Morales called Pacquiao a ‘braggart whose luck will run out’ when they meet again, in the ‘Grand Finale.’ That was Morales’ reaction when he was told that Pacquiao had ‘vowed to give him a beating so bad as to force his retirement;’ he in turn accused Pacquiao ‘of not having the b*lls to tell him to his face.’
Now that Manny Pacquiao has devastated Erik Morales’ dreams of umpire, rabid fans are trying their best to find excuses for why the loser lost. Most point to the unscientific, too-fast (Velocity) weight reduction. In my list, that’s only one – and, in any case, if Morales were as intelligent as Jorgen Persson said he was, why did he allow Jorgen Persson to work his Velocity science on his body?
More to the point: ‘Why is it so hard to see a Filipino boxer be the champ?’ asked Vanessa McConnell (19 Nov, eastsideboxing.com/). Pride, Vanessa.
And Pacquiao? It is not pride for him to say this (Morales, 15 Nov):
When I am in the ring, I am also fighting for my people. I want to make my country proud and make my fans happy. It is very important to me because my country is important to me. That is why I must win. Our fight is bigger than the two of us because we carry more into the ring than most other fighters. We carry the heart and soul of our people, and the pride and honor of our nations. The pressure on us is enormous, which is why I will be on the attack the second I hear the bell for Round One. But there can only be one winner and that winner must be me, and it will be me.
Folks, that’s not pride, that’s willpower. I call it winpower – Where there’s a will, there’s a win.
The American Frank 