The Legendary Trilogy

If you think I'm talking about the Godfather or Lord of the Rings... you may leave this blog now.

This, of course, is the legendary trilogy between our very own Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales. I compiled this from HBO and other boxing sites, and actually gave this as an exercise for my students in Microsoft Word.

THE PACQUIAO-MORALES TRILOGY:

PART I: March 19, 2005 – MGM Grand, Las Vegas, USA

For Erik Morales, the honor of being Mexico's greatest had been bestowed upon the man who had bested him, Marco Antonio Barrera. He sought a way to regain the hearts of his countrymen when he was given a chance to beat the man, Manny Pacquiao, who had beaten the man, Barrera, who had beaten him. Morales devised a plan that would offset the whirling dervish known as "Pacman," whose non-stop attack had reduced Barrera into smaller, neater pieces and knocked Juan Manuel Marquez down three times in the first round.

Morales executed his plan perfectly, taking up a position in mid-ring and using his height and reach to pepper Pacquiao with his jabs to keep Pacquiao at long range. When Pacquiao would try one of his patented bull-like rushes to get inside, Morales would greet him with right-hand counters. As Morales' jabs continued to find Pacquiao's face, Pacquiao came away from one mid-ring encounter in the fifth round with a gash over his right eye--either from a punch, as the referee ruled, or from a head butt, as later replays showed--and upon consultation with an attending physician, was allowed to continue. But from that point on, as Pacquiao would admit in a post-fight interview, "I couldn't see out of my right eye, only my left eye for most of the fight," Pacquiao was now at a decided disadvantage against Morales, who kept using his jab and his right to Pacquiao's blind side. But just because one hadn't heard the lion roar does not necessarily mean he's asleep as Pacquiao would show time and time again, landing his dynamite-laden left. It wasn’t enough, though, to stop Morales’ barrage of punches.

At the final bell, Morales' fans let loose a roar as the 115-113 unanimous decision in his favor was announced. Morales had beaten the man who had beaten the man who had beaten him.

PART II: January 21, 2006 – Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, USA

The rematch was almost a glove story. In their first fight, Pacquiao was contractually forced to wear Asian "Winning" gloves; in the rematch he wore Reyes gloves. The difference? " The "Winning" gloves, called by many as "Pillows," are filled with a soft foam that absorbs much of the impact of a punch, both for the puncher and the punchee. The Reyes gloves, on the other hand, are filled with horsehair, are thinner and far less absorbent, enabling those hit to feel their opponent's knuckles through the padding.

However, there was more to the story than just the gloves. It was also about what went into them--the hands. Trainer Freddie Roach worked on Pacquiao’s right, honing his right jab and installing a dynamite right hook to go with his blasting cap left. By the sixth round, both the gloves and the newly-minted rights of the “Pacman” were in evidence as he came on like a man possessed, throwing, and landing, both rights and lefts to Morales' face and rearranging his Aztec-like features. Morales' face also began to take on a "did-you-get-the-license-plate-number-of-the-truck-that-hit-me" look.

The ending in the 10th was inevitable as Morales, his legs and punches having gone weak, stood in front of Pacquiao with a dull resignation to his fate. Pacquiao finally capped his non-stop assault with one perfect left, toppling Morales to the canvas for the first time in his career. Barely climbing back up to his feet at the count of nine, Morales stood there, almost defenseless, as Pacquiao continued to practice unspeakable acts of destruction on his foe, finally driving him to the floor. That was enough for the referee as he waved the fight over at 2:33 of the 10th round to signal a Pacquiao TKO victory.

PART III: November 18, 2006 – Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, USA

It only took Pacquiao three rounds to prove himself the stronger, faster fighter. In a surprise ending to the two fighter's legendary trilogy, Pacquiao completely dismantled Morales from the very beginning and scored an early knockout victory. The two fighters both came out trading blows and engaging each other in vicious exchanges to the feverish clamoring of the record-sized crowd. While Pacquiao won the first round by meeting Morales' attacks with tactful counters and explosive speed, it was the second round when the total demolition began.

A much more aggressive Pacquiao dominated Morales almost instantly into the second round. Pacquiao, attacking early and often, looking to challenge Morales' stamina, scored a knockdown late into the second round. Rather than keeping Pacquiao at a distance and analyzing Pacquiao's strategy, Morales fought an older fight than he was capable in the end. Instead, he handed Pacquiao an early holiday present by standing in front of a much faster, much more conditioned fighter.

By the third round, Pacquiao's speed was clearly causing Morales difficulty, his punches missing the mark and his footwork looking sloppy. On the other side of the ring, Pacquiao's energy level was increasing and his right hand started making its mark on Morales, with thudding blows dropping him again and then, finally, a third knockdown at 2:57 of the third round. Pacquiao stood opposite a badly-beaten opponent, waiting out the ten count to put a cap on Morales’ admirable career.

The "Volcano" peaks at just the right time...

It is only fitting that a Filipino won the World Pool Championships the year it was first held here in the Philippines. After all, the Philippines is known as having the best pool players in the world. Many thought names like Efren Reyes or Django Bustamante would win it, but it was the lesser-known Ronnie "the Volcano" Alcano who had won it all. It just goes to show the quality of pool players in the country. We never ran out of world-class cue artists.

To think, Alcano was in the brink of elimination in the group stages when he started with two straight defeats. However, he did make it into the knock-out stages and went all the way. On his way to victory, he beat Efren Reyes, 2005 runner-up Kuo Po-cheng, and defending champion Wu Chia-ching. In the finals, he met 1996 champion Ralf Souquet from Germany and beat him 17-11. Alcano used a precision soft break throughout and it paid dividends again as he consistently made the wing ball and gained shape to make the 1 ball into the center pocket.

Alcano became the third Filipino (Efren Reyes-1999 & Alex Pagulayan-2004) to hold pool’s most coveted title.