Quote Originally Posted by Gyrokai
Seconds Out!!!
http://secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=20730
By Ray Kilgore: On a media conference call last week, Erick Morales told the press he expects to win his trilogy fight against Manny Pacquiao Saturday night, and the victory will help regain his lost status as an elite fighter.

Morales is coming off three losses in his last four bouts, with one of those defeats coming via a KO to from Pacquiao. Morales says the fight this Saturday in Las Vegas will be different because he is not struggling to make weight and feels better mentally.

He said: "I think I have always had trouble making weight. I am more conscious of it [weight issues] that is why I have taken my time for this fight."

Morales maintains he was motivated for the first Pacquiao fight because he had something to prove coming off the lost to Marco Antonio Barrera. As with most fighters, Morales refuses to admit his back-to-back defeats could be a sign his skills have deteriorated.

"For the second fight [with Pacquiao], I made too many changes in my camp and routine - but you learn. For this fight, I will be one hundred percent. We worked real hard the last three months."

Morales rejected he need to win this fight to keep his career alive. "I feel very good; I feel no pressure. I know what I need to do to win this fight...I don't feel any pressure."

Surprisingly, promoter Bob Arum says tickets sells have been great given Morales has not won a fight since March of 2005 when he beat Pacquiao in their first fight. Arum reports 13,000 tickets have been sold, and he was confident the remaining 4,000 would go fast.

As reported by SecondsOut's Paul Upham, Arum became upset that the WBC is looking to sanction the Pacquiao-Morales fight as an 'eliminator'.

However, Arum did agree fans have been cheated out in "big" pay-pre-view fights as of lately. "The public has been buying into pay-per-views that have been garbage. Barrera versus [Rocky] Juarez and [Floyd] Mayweather [Carlos] Baldomir."

But how does Arum justify Morales v Pacquiao III, a fight most see as a foregone conclusion, being on pay-per-view?

"Because both [fighters] come to fight." Arum further adds, "There is a buzz for this fight and the last fight did 370,000 buys."

Morales' focus is on Pacquiao and says he is not looking at a new fighting style for this match. "There is not much to change...I am ready to go the twelve rounds."

Yet, Morales has made one important adjustment in bringing his father back into camp. "I am happy to have my dad back. All we talked about is having him back. He knows my weaknesses and strengths." Its clear Morales is more excited about his not struggling with his weight. "I heard the other guy [Pacquiao] is saying that I can't make 130 [pounds]." He continues, "I have been in a lot of tough fights but a lot of my problems have been making weight. For this fight I feel very good...[and] after November 18, we will find out how good I feel."


What do you think boxing fanatics? Sounds like good news, maybe Erik will last 5 rounds instead of 4. hahaheeh ehhh .... ehhh

---I used to be a big Pac fan, years ago. Pac has the potential to become the next TRUE Superstar!
He's faster than Bruce Lee, has power in both hands, and he comes to kill. How can you not like that? ... Then he knocked out my favorite.
Just so you know, fellow Morales fans, I keep my brains NOW.... but on fight night I'm ALL FOR MORALES!!!! But not now... only on fight night will I give my boy a chance and root for him as if he's already the Champion. "ELL TERRIIBBBLE!"

I rooting for him to knock that silly smile off of Manny and Roach's face!
I'm not. EM was smug as hell on the HBO countdown. He seems to attribute his loss to the fact that he was weight drained not the fact that Manny landed a ton of power punches to his face and made Eric's nose look like a lowercase s. I'm hoping that Manny destroys him.