2006 Pacquiao Boxing Victory

Boxing fans mostly focus their view on the heavy weight championships such as the fights of Muhammad Ali. However, from time to time, interesting fights belonging to the lower divisions catch the eye of boxing enthusiasts such as the fights of Sugar Ray Leonard. In 2006, the super featherweight division caught the boxing fans' attention to the rematch of Erik Morales of Mexico and Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. Erik Morales, a three-time world champion, had defeated Pacquiao during their first encounter in a 12-round fight in March 2005 by a unanimous decision. However, the rematch held at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas Nevada, USA last January 21, 2006 proved a great exciting victory for Manny Pacquiao - a two time world champion. Although it was a none-title fight brought by HBO, it indeed brought great honor to the home country of Manny - the Philippines. In this particular rematch, Erik has been favored by many over Pacquiao before the fight. But the rematch simply proved many wrong when the Filipino fighter knocked down the Mexican fighter twice in the 10th round of this 12-round fight which was stopped by the referee Kenny Bayless. Manny's strong left-handed punch on the head of Morales brought the Mexican fighter down for the first time. Interesting comparison to note between the first encounter and the second encounter of Morales and Pacquiao are the following: Pacquiao suffered a bloody cut on his right eyebrow which had distorted his vision and had contributed to his loss. On this rematch, Morales suffered a cut on his right eyebrow starting on the first round on the fight and later Morales suffered a swollen nose bridge and a left swollen lower eyelid from the middle of the fight. In their first encounter, the fight lasted through the full 12-round fight. In this rematch, the fight was stopped at 2:33 of the 10th round. Both boxers indeed had an interesting exchange of punches. Morales, also called "El Terrible" had landed several right handed punches and had dominated the first, third and fourth rounds of the rematch, but Manny's combined power punches to the body and head punches simply overwhelmed Morales. Indeed, Pacquiao also called as the "Pacman", had proven himself to be the better fighter. After all, Manny Pacquiao had dedicated this fight for the glory of his country - the Philippines. Can the Philippines produce more boxing super stars like Manny Pacquiao in the next few years?