http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=5624

By Rey Danseco

While his opponent Manny Pacquiao has to contend with some attempts to distract him from fight preparations, Erik Morales has deep concentration at the beginning of his training camp in the mountains of the Otomi region in Mexico.

Morales plans to bring in seven sparring partners starting within the next 10 days under the watchful eyes of his father-trainer Jose Morales at the Otomi Ceremonial Center.

Morales also tapped the living legend and former World Boxing Council bantamweight and super bantamweight champion Daniel Zaragoza to teach him to fight a southpaw like the power-punching left-handed Pacquiao.

The camp of the Tijuana hitman never revealed the names of the sparring partners.

Morales and Pacquiao has seven weeks remaining to train for their third fight on November 18 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales plans to conclude his training camp when he leaves for Las Vegas on November 11 or 12 to acclimatize in the glittery gambling capital.

Last Wednesday night, Morales arrived in Otomi and has begun his training the following morning by jogging in the high terrains.

In the afternoon, the 30-year-old fighter jumped the rope and hard exercises in the gym, including the instructions from the clinic in Los Angeles where he reduced more than dozens of pounds to 145-lbs frame at the news conference at the Beverly Hill Hotel last September 19.

“I had a great work out in the clinic in Los Angeles. And I arrived Otomi in better weight than expected,” a Mexican newspaper quoted Morales.

On the other hand, American trainer Freddie Roach will tap four sparring partners to help Pacquiao in his preparations for right-handed Morales.

Roach named his two other trainees, Hispanic welterweights Juan Lazcano (36-3-1, 27 KOs) of Texas and Vicente Escobedo (10-1, 9 KOs) of California, as Pacquiao’s sparring partners. The two others were described as young and promising fighters from Mexico.

Lazcano, a 31-year old, 5-foot-9, is also in the thick of preparations for the World Boxing Association light welter eliminator against Manuel Garnica on October 21 at Don Haskins Center in El Paso where Filipinos Gerry Penalosa and Jimrex Jaca also see actions.

While Escobedo is also preparing for another fight in November. He is a resemblance of Morales being 5-foot-8 and having a 72 inch reach.

Morales and Pacquiao split their two previous meetings. Morales won by two points each on three scorecards to earn a unanimous decision over 12 rounds last year. Pacquiao gave Morales his first defeat by stoppage, a 10th round technical knockout in their rematch in January.