Fire: Manny Pacquaio vs Erik Morales 1

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It doesn't get any poorer than Manny Pacquaio's childhood. Born in the Philippines into deep and abject poverty, his parents split after 6 children. Manny was forced to drop out of high school and live with his dad, after his mom simply couldn't afford to feed him anymore. His father was equally poor so Manny spent most of his days hustling just to get by. Selling stolen cigarettes on the humid streets of General Santos City just for enough to eat everyday.

One day Manny used a bit of what little food he had to lure home a puppy. He took care of his little pup better than he took care of himself. Until one day he got into an argument with his dad, who in a fit of drunken rage killed his dog. Then Manny helplessly watched as his father cooked and ate that little puppy in front of him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/01/manny-pacquiaos-dad-ate-his-dog-and-boxing-has-never-been-the-same/

Manny was left with two options. Rather than patricide and a series of murders, Manny left home and didn't speak to his father for decades. 14, out on the street with trauma in his psyche and hunger in his belly. Manny found his salvation in boxing. He turned pro at age 16, lying about the age requirement to have the chance at some badly needed money to send to his mother. Thin as a broomstick at 112lbs he won his first fight with a swarm of determined offense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOf5FO6_VPs

Manny kept winning for the most part. Soon enough he actually started eating well. He blossomed as a fighter, climbing the weights and looking ever more sensational. He hooked up with trainer Freddie Roach who began to refine the young brawler into an offensive whirlwind with anime hand speed. https://youtu.be/BAdeWxeqGa8?t=88

Now eating better than ever at 130lbs "Pac Man" never stopped hustling.

Erik "El Terrible" Morales is Mexico, the man. His father Jose, was also boxer. If legend is to be believed Erik was actually born in his gym. After they mopped up the mess, that gym would become the incubator of greatness. The blue of his nursery was the leather of gloves. The mobile hanging over his crib was a speed bag he'd soon use to rattle the entire building. His family grew together in that gym. Soon Erik had 2 younger brothers. By age 5 Erik was already beginning to learn the family trade.

He sparred with his brothers and the three sharpened each other world class fighters. Erik turned pro at 16 after going 108-6 and winning 11 amateur titles in one of the biggest boxing countries in the world. As a pro he starts his career going 41-0. He's not the strongest, or the fastest but the lanky bantamweight built a reputation. Erik Morales fights didn't start when you hear the bell ring, they start when he gets hurt. Erik Morales operated with a pure ethic of total retaliation. When he got hit, he hit back. He tried to take teeth. https://i.imgur.com/syvkhdI.mp4

He developed a rivalry with fellow Mexican, Marco Antonio Barrera which became one of the marquis trilogies of boxing history. It was Erik representing the ghettos and red light districts of his beloved TJ against the affluent arrogance of Barrera from the capitol. Their 3 fights were non-stop spiteful violence between two men who seriously and personally hated each other. Though Erik won the first and most legendary of these meetings, he dropped the final two fights to his middle class nemesis at 130lbs. Still waiting on the scorecards for their press conference fight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iKKEdWsusc

But Since then Manny scorched Erik's rival in a lopsided beat down, so now Erik is looking to make a statement by pugilistic osmosis. Beating Manny would put him squarely in charge at 130lbs.

It took less than half a round for all hell to break loose. An offensive tornado fought a man who tends to have the same basic responses to punches as Huik Hogan. Erik Morales just seemed to get madder the more you hit him. From the get go it was clear the fans they had laid down their money to see desperate thoughtless cruelty, repaid in kind. From very early on the fighters were determined to give it to them. They goad each other on with more than just punches.

Manny may have grown up in poverty but he was rich in talent. He caught a myriad of numbers in the genetic lottery. He has endless fluidity, blistering speed of hand and foot, as well as a wicked power in his left that would carry up weight like very few in history. https://i.imgur.com/wT7pu7W.mp4

He decided the best way to use this, was to throw as many punches as humanly possible. Ask his opponent's defense too many questions to answer. Since he's a lefty it means that his power punches come from the wrong side, at the wrong angles. All too easy to forget in a firefight. https://media.giphy.com/media/iloZLX0BahZ8A/giphy.gif

Erik had some gifts of his own. He was lanky, and experienced enough to know how to use it. He turns the tables on Manny's blitz. He noticed Manny drops his right hand as he jabs. Eric comes over the top of it with a jab of his own and gets Manny to cover up and step out. He keeps attacking with the left to deny Manny an angle to keep from driven back into the ropes. Manny gets his feet back under as he looks for a way off. He steps to his left, drawing a punch from Morales. Manny blocks it and changes directions to get back into open space.

Manny's offense is one of the modern marvels of boxing. Though not quite the finished technical product he would become, the raw fury of this younger version of the Pac Man is something to see. Manny broadsides Morales, backing him into the ropes with blazing hand speed. Erik patiently covers up knowing he can't match speed with the Filipino Phenom, he exploits one of the inherent holes in his high volume style. Manny works almost exclusively in combination. Getting hit by him once, meant that 3 or 4 more punches are probably on the way. Erik covered up then picked his moments between the punches to fire back and fight his way off the ropes.

Manny changes tactics to take advantage of another peculiarity of the southpaw. When punching to the body, most vulnerable target is the liver. This sits just beneath the bottom rib on your right side. A nerve cluster runs over the top of it. It controls things like heart rate, blood pressure and your brain's ability to communicate with your legs. For a lefty, that bulls eye is is downrange of their most dangerous weapon. When he lands the effect in Morales is obvious. The classic curl up and die motion that accompanies a good liver shot. http://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/assets/4748396/Tomoki_Kameda_vs_Pungluang_Sor_Singyu.gif

It was these moments, that Erik Morales would prove time and again who and what he was. He took 4 or 5 of the most painful impacts the boxing ring can offer. Despite his poker face you can see the cringe in Morales' posture. He backs off the ropes and Manny tries to cut him off with the right hook. Eric gets a step ahead off Manny's miss to get his feet beneath him. Erik's nature overtakes him as he opens up with 7 punches in reply.

A huge smile crosses Manny's face as the round comes to a close.

Erik's game plan when not trying to counter punch an offensive dynamo, was to use the 4 inch reach advantage. Tries to stick to straight punches as much as possible. His right hand is more often than not aimed at Manny's body. By aiming at the shorter fighters center of mass not only is he paying Manny back for the beating he took to the body at the end of round 1. But the straight right to the body is also keeping Manny stuck at the end of Erik's range.

You can't walk through a straight shot to the body any more than a turkey can walk through an extended golf club. https://streamable.com/70tct2

When a righty fights a lefty it creates a major problem for the righty. The lead hand and foot are forward on the same side. This means that the jab is minimized due the fact that each lead hand is in the way of the other. In order to jab you have to find away around that hand. Which means you need to find a way to get past your opponent's lead foot, even just to jab. This places extra emphasis on the Power hand, and stepping to the outside of their foot.

Extra emphasis on the power hand, between a power punching pressure fighter and the baddest Mexican since Julio Caesar Chavez who is pathologically required to fire back in combination. It was a forgone conclusion that the fight, what ever the out come, would be a classic. It had fight of the year written into the contract. But as Eric's straight right hand finds it's home more and more, they celebrate openly the small victories of ring craft.

Eric shakes his head after making Manny miss by miles as he spins his way off the ropes. Manny throws his hands up as he gets off the line of Eric's attack. Erik closes the distance but walks into another punishing left hand to the body and is of course more than happy to try to chase Manny away with punches. His straighter more direct right hand gets inside a wide left by Manny. Pac Man eats it like a cherry, and comes crashing in with another southpaw tsunami. Erik just leans back, rides that wave and threads the needle with another straight right in reply.

The 2nd comes to a close and Manny is still smiling. Just not quite so wide as last time.

Erik refused to be intimidated by talent. He never had any qualms about taking a punch to give one. No qualms about taking the hard route to victory. No qualms about letting the world know it. He's felt Manny's power and now is comfortable enough to mock it. Erik was never one the guy to buy into another fighter's hype. He approached his every opponent like a sarcastic skeptic. You had to prove to Erik that you were his better.

Manny had rough patches coming up. He's been KO'ed twice as a hungry up and coming kid. He started malnourished, as his purses started growing and he could finally afford enough to eat he had issues with gaining weight. But for the first time at highest level of the sport, Manny is meeting a guy so accustomed and indifferent to his power, so that the intangibles and skills tell the difference. Manny's educated feet and speed against Erik's reach and chin of Mexican marble.

It degenerated over the rounds, into of those ageless, timeless expressions of soul that will still be watched in a century. As Erik draws first blood, it felt like that was only a matter of time. Manny's style is chaos and many freeze in the face of it. Erik Morales however, is not one of those people.

Let's take a closer look at what caused this massive gash in slow-mo below.

Erik has been having brilliant success at keeping Manny at long range. A reach advantage is more than one thing. First is what you'd normally think of, longer arms. But the second and rarely spoken of part is the role being taller plays. Erik's 3 inches of height means that his shoulders are on the same plane as Manny's chin. He can throw his punches perfectly straight while Pac Man is forced to either punch down to the body, or up at Erik's chin. Making an already short reach even shorter. So before Manny can even think to reach Erik, he has to step in first.

Erik is patient enough to pick him off as he steps him. First he cracks Manny with a straight right as he crosses the taller fighters minefield. Manny comes crashing into Erik who is naturally over his front foot after throwing the right. The unintentional headbutt seems the most likely culprit for the bleeding but it's tough to tell considering Morales landed about 4 clean punches around it.

Manny's speedy feet are still timeable. That predictable and required first step is a bayonet charge into a machine gun nest. All Erik has to do is keep pulling the trigger until Manny is forced to retreat.

It was a tradition in many eastern martial arts, probably its most famous component outside of the actual combat. The tradition of the belt system. Every new member of a dojo is given a a white belt. Different colors of belt denote the experience level of the person who wears it. But that is all just new school marketing. Back when martial arts were more martial than art, you were given a white belt. You just weren't allowed to wash it. All the sweat and blood and grime from years of hard training built up on it. True black belts were absolutely nasty in more ways than one.

While Manny showed up in his gaudy flame job trunks, decorated bright in red and orange, with No Fear plastered across his thigh, if not his face. Erik throws out his venomous 1-2's in reply to Manny's offensive outbursts. While Manny showed his flash, Erik showed up simply. He had no need to decorate his own trunks. He had enough of Manny's blood to dye them the old fashioned way.

Manny is a rough sight in his corner. He's covered in his own blood, as a wad of gauze is stuffed into the wood chip sized wound over Manny's eye. The purpled swelling growing just below it. But the smile that Manny returned to his corner in the first is long gone. Not advisable to have a shit eating grin, as the shit hits the fan. The chaos in the corner is palpable as Freddie Roach begs Manny to get and stay inside and stop backing up in straight lines.

The stats on the jab is telling. Though they have thrown the same number, but Erik is landing more than 4 to 1. That is a statistical display of what a height and reach advantage can be, when it is ruthlessly exploited. That is a jab in a shorter fighters face when he steps in and a jab before he can get out of range. The numbers alone tell you Morales is in control of the physical dialogue.

You see Manny giving all he can, trying his absolute hardest. But it's not a matter of effort. Its the understanding that ultimately, just like football, defense wins championships. Eric is fighting behind his jab, which is a tall fighters first layer of defense. Because you can't hit what you can't reach. When Manny gets inside, Erik tucks up behind his high guard and starts moving his head.

He knows his range, can fade just out of distance to come leaping back in snapping Manny's neck back with a straight shot. Before sticking to this game plan. Distance is defense until it isn't. While keeping in mind, all Erik needs to do is keep up without settling in a place where Manny can sit down on his power. Outside or inside but never at that awful mid-range where Manny's speed can tell.

Because at this point in his career Manny's defense was far from a finished product. Manny was a fighter who thrived on chaos. His chin was excellent, he was tough as nails but fundamentally and stylistically he was there to be hit. It makes for amazing fights, fact is a short fighter who holds his hands low and throws tons of punches is bound to get cracked on occasion. To the point where getting punched in the face is longer an occasion.

As the fight carries on Erik just gets more and more comfortable. He's taken Manny's power and so now he starts opening up with his right hand. Erik Morales is technically picking apart this most hyperactive version of a man who went on to be a champion in 8 weight classes. 15 years later and Manny Pacquaio is still one of the best welterweights on the planet. That is a full 17lbs heavier than he is here.

But Erik has figured out how to just let Manny lead, give a bit of ground, then fire back through the defensive gaps at range. Most importantly though, Erik never panics. There is no amount of hand speed or volume that is going to interfere with Erik's thought process. No amount of pressure is going to get him to crack. The ability to think slow in the midst of chaos is one of those underrated intangibles that can't be measured.

Erik knows, as he casually shoulder rolls away another right hand. Manny might be landing at times, but Erik knows he is squarely in control of this fight. Erik starts letting his swagger show.

The simple fact is that time and again, sequence after sequence, Erik is proving the more complete fighter. He can fight stepping in any direction. He can lead, he can use his defense to evade and in an instant come up with a counter to turn back the tide. That skill is key to controlling the geometry of the ring. It's a skill that Manny is missing at this point in his career. It's the difference between being an athletic phenom, a well skilled boxer.

Manny had yet to develop a fleshed out counter punching game. He'd yet to develop the head movement to get around punches. His primary defense was to tuck up behind his high guard and back off as fast as feet could carry him. But against a taller fighter, its a free shot. Erik could hit him before he could get away, he just went underneath Manny's guard. Once Manny started backing up he could never quite recenter himself without the help of the ropes. Which is a fundamental failure of ring craft.

Pac turns the tables by passing Erik's head under his armpit to get off the ropes. Erik just keeps coming up with counters by shortening his punches on the inside.

Manny had no time to waste, He couldn't afford to wait on a taller fighter to make the first move. He has to close the distance, he has to let his hands go to win. Erik's was too calm and accurate and Manny's defense was too full of holes. So the only real shot Manny has to win at this point in the fight is the knockout. To so completely overwhelm Erik that he wilts under the assault. Which is a bit like expecting to win a gold medal in swimming, by drowning Michael Phelps.

Manny has to throw punches, and leaving openings. Stuck in this vicious circle, taking a beating far worse than the one he's dishing out. Both men keep a torrid pace deep into the tenth round, but Erik's comfort in the chaos is telling the difference.

Each man sits in his corner before the final round. Manny gets water poured over his head, Vaseline smeared into the still weeping cut over his eye. The eggplant colored swelling grows beneath it. All he can do is wince and grimace as his trainer Freddie Roach begs him to go get a win the only way he possibly can. He has to knock Erik out and got all of 3 minutes left to try.

Across the ring Erik needs nothing. A sip of water, a towel off, a fist pump and basic "Don't get knocked out" in Spanish. His father/trainer sends him on his way. It is a strategically sound, risk averse plan that barring scorecard fuckery, should see him to a sure win in what is already a classic war.

Erik saunters out to meet Manny in the middle, knuckles first as usual. A between the bells, show of respect for a tough and talented street kid from the other side of the planet, who still had a lot to learn. Erik just had one more thing to teach him before they got through.

Erik Morales, insurmountably up on all the scorecards, under a light suggestion to hang back and not get KOed, just had one last point to make. Not only would Erik be more than happy to give Manny a chance to knock him out, He switches to the left handed stance. Because he can. Which is a painful slap in the face in a sea of punches. Erik Morales is literally fighting https://i.imgflip.com/3zfrwt.jpg

You wonder what compels Erik to throw caution to the wind like this. He grew up in an Agōgē of his father's own creation. The competitive, testosterone fueled environment of his youth and his position at the the top the heap as the first born son. Erik was no bully, at least not in any traditional sense. But something in him had to tell the world, that he wasn't just more skilled. He was tougher and smarter and so insurmountably better that he could afford to fuck around.

There may be flames radiating off of Manny's fast feet, but Erik is more than happy to stand just close enough to get warmed up. On the other hand Erik's trunks have turned into the plasma soaked fabric of a surgeon's apron. Nature or nurture aside, be it lighter or a lighting strike, something put a fire in Erik's soul.

The fight was a meeting of two of the gamest human beings in they history of the sport. Both men fought with utter determination not just to earn their money, but are here to see who is best. The substance of the style proven, in their final moments. Erik Morales all spiteful supremacy, is compelled to rub Manny's face in his defeat before it was over.

Manny not for the slightest second, never gave up on trying to win. He fought with the tenacity and toughness of a starving predator. He fought through the blood, the bruised eye and ego knowing that tonight wouldn't be his night, but it wouldn't be for lack of trying. He would lose a 115-113 decision on all 3 cards. Manny would of course be back, in another humid and blood soaked ring with Erik. 2 More times in fact. But those are different stories, for different days.

They came from different places, they spoke different languages and grew up an ocean apart. They fought for different reasons, they fought with opposite stances and styles. All these physical, cultural and technical differences shrunk in comparison with what they had in common. They were walking, breathing fireworks from some of the harshest environments on the planet. Through hard work they turned themselves into legends, even that pales in the face of what truly brought them here.

That inextinguishable, inexhaustible, utterly intangible Fire down below.

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