Perhaps a Pacquiao Pamphlet?

By Bart Barry

This pound-for-pound thing is beyond me, I admit. It seems to have started nobly enough, years ago, as a way of taking Sugar Ray Robinson’s ample achievements, adding fifty pounds to them, and imagining how our sport’s all-time-greatest pugilist would have done against his heavyweight contemporaries. That is, boxing aficionados began with what Robinson actually did and projected his accomplishments onto outcomes of hypothetical fights.

Then came Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather and the Internet. These days, in an effort to fill a hundred websites with fresh daily material, we begin with the outcomes of hypothetical fights and project them backwards onto a pugilist’s actual accomplishments: “I’m sure Roy Jones could have beaten Ezzard Charles, so ‘RJJ’s’ decision over David Telesco was amazing,” or, “There’s no doubt Floyd Mayweather would have beaten Roberto Duran, which is why ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’s’ performance against Sharmba Mitchell proves Floyd’s greatness!”

It makes no sense to me, but that is my shortcoming. Consider the source, then, when you read these next sentences.

Manny Pacquiao is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, by far. To pass him in the “P4P” standings, Winky Wright would have to beat Felix Trinidad two more times; and Floyd Mayweather, at his current rate, would have to fight till his fortieth birthday.

In the last three years, Manny Pacquiao has knocked-out two future Hall-of-Famers, drawn with a third, and knocked-out two other prizefighters with forty-two and fifty-six career victories, respectively. Winky Wright has decisioned Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad and drawn with Jermain Taylor, making him a respectable, if distant, second in any pound-for-pound rankings concerned with actual fights. Then there’s Floyd Mayweather. If “Pretty Boy Floyd” is allowed to borrow Winky Wright’s biggest victories since 2003, he probably still belongs behind Manny Pacquiao.

Looks like this pound-for-pound thing is indeed well beyond me. Then am I merely a Pacquiao pamphleteer? No. Although I’m sure he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter, Manny Pacquiao’s not my favorite fighter. He’s not my favorite fighter in action this weekend. Heck, Manny Pacquiao’s not even my favorite prizefighter in Manny Pacquiao’s next fight!

Erik “El Terrible” Morales is my favorite prizefighter. He is atop a short list of reasons that I became a boxing writer. And I consider it an honor to see him ply his brutal craft.

That may even be the point of this column. Though there was a compelling heavyweight prizefight last Saturday at Madison Square Garden, though Wladimir Klitschko took another big step towards becoming universally recognized as the Heavyweight Champion of the World when he nailed Calvin Brock’s forehead to the blue mat, I am choosing to write about Erik Morales because, well, I’m afraid there may not be more chances to do so.

The fights for which Erik Morales will be remembered are his opening battles with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao. These were the Morales victories the largest number of boxing fans saw. He probably lost the first match with Barrera, and without Pacquiao suffering an accidental head butt in Round 5, who knows how Morales-Pacquiao I might have gone?

But Erik Morales’s victory over Manny Pacquiao that night, twenty months ago, was “El Terrible’s” defining win. A crazed sold-out crowd of Mexicans and Filipinos, blood everywhere, both men exhausted, and Morales’s lunatic decision to fight the final stanza as a southpaw – to sate his countrymen’s violence lust.

Erik Morales will also be remembered for his losses in Morales-Barrera II & III, and his knockout loss in Morales-Pacquiao II. As much as Morales probably lost his first fight with Barrera, he won the rematch. Their third fight, though, belonged to Barrera – while Morales fought through another broken nose and too much weight.

But let us hope Erik Morales is not remembered for the spent, cowering spectacle Manny Pacquiao made of him last January. That night, a career of whiplash dieting finally got its tariff from “El Terrible.” By the seventh round, Morales’s legs were hollow and he couldn’t so much as run. “The body doesn’t forget; the body doesn’t forgive,” Morales said afterwards.

How will things go, then, this Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center, when “El Terrible” fights Manny Pacquiao a third time? Not swimmingly for Erik Morales. Asked on a recent conference call what he will do differently, Morales answered, “I think that there’s really not much to change.” Well.

Based on his appearance a few months ago, and no matter what high-tech training methods he’s used, in reality Erik Morales has spent the last ten weeks thinking about the scale, and the hunger it demands of him, much more than Manny Pacquiao.

I believe Manny Pacquiao will beat Erik Morales very badly this Saturday night. Oh, how I hope that prediction is wrong. But win or lose, I also hope Erik Morales retires Sunday morning. He’s too small to be effective at 135 pounds, and he’s too big to make 130 pounds again.

This Saturday I may derive great joy from my own error, however, so I’d like to do some warm-up erring, right now; no sense in being cold. Back to the “P4P” rankings, then.

Since this whole pound-for-pound thing is imaginary anyway, why not make it a tool for good? If pundits were collectively to disregard Floyd Mayweather’s overtures – foul-mouthed rants, sweet-tongued concessions, silver watches, wet eyes – and rate him beneath Manny Pacquiao for a while, maybe “Pretty Boy Floyd” would make war on the welterweight division and prove he’s as good as he says is.

In the meantime, here’s some foreshadowing. Regardless of how he does against Erik Morales this Saturday, Manny Pacquiao will remain the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world – at least until Floyd Mayweather actually beats Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, and Kermit Cintron.