After having all his chances to fight Manny Pacquiao, Eric Morales should now pass the baton to his compatriot, the equally legendary Marco Antonio Barrera.

Among the current crop of great Mexican fighters, only Morales earned the distinction of beating the Pacman, but that doesn’t mean that only he is capable of doing that.

Marco Antonio Barrera, being a legend that he is although he is thought to be over his prime already due to his age, should be as capable as Morales was of disposing off the Filipino boxing icon.

The fact that he beat Morales twice in their own trilogy of battles means he also packs a promise of beating the Pacman.  He is currently the WBC Superfeatherweight champ and that suggests a lot in the question of beating Pacquiao.

It’s his turn now, and for all intents and purposes, his rematch with the Filipino pride is the one remaining match left for him to completely cap a sterling fighting career.  He is getting old and he is not getting the best bouts he should have right now.  No matter how he denies it, his caliber as a champion is tainted by Pacquiao and the only way he can undo that is to set up a Barrera-Pacquiao II.

He now has his chance and as the true ring warrior that he is, he has to take this chance very soon before somebody else takes it from him.  I believe that the drama of the Barrera-Pacquiao II will overshadow the epic character of the Pacquiao-Morales 3.

Manny Pacquiao said he is ready to take on anyone.  Barrera had better make his move now.

The first knockout loss of Morales last January was due largely to one thing about Pacquiao: his gloves. The Cleto Reyes gloves did their damage on Morales especially in round 2 where Pacquaio gave a powerful left straight that sent Morales off-balance. Had he not held on to the rope, he should have been knocked down.

That left straight hit the center of Morales’ nose and since then, Morales had trouble breathing through the nose–a factor for his losing steam along the way.

If Pacquiao can hit Morales again in the same fashion, El Terrible will have to contend again with difficult breathing.

The Morales camp tried to deny the difference made by the gloves but it is evident that the gloves are a big factor.

In the first fight, Pacquiao’s power was diminished by the thick padding of the Winning gloves. In the rematch, Morales felt the difference with the Reyes gloves as he went down to the floor.

Pacquiao cannot break Erik’s nose with the Winning gloves but with the Cleto Reyes, expect Manny to target his opponent’s nose again.

Morales said that the last time he fought Manny Pacquiao, he tired out and that caused him to lose.

Boxing is a sports for the best conditioned athletes that’s why boxers have to train long enough to prepare for a single bout. If indeed Morales lost because he tired out, then the training he had was questionable.

He is currently watching his training closely and is praying that he will not tire out in their rubber match on November 18, 2006 in Las Vegas.

Should his training be a lot better now, will that mean he will not tire out anymore? I doubt it, and I have a suggestion for Manny to tire Morales out once more–BODY BLOWS.

Body blows take much of a fighter’s strength and upset much of his strategy. If Pacquiao’s speed and power should be most devastating, they should be aimed at the kidney and liver areas of Morales. In their last meeting, Pacquiao gave Morales a good number of stinging body attacks. Some of them caused Erik to grimace and lose his balance.

Morales is tough in the head. He has had battles with the best punchers of his division and none of them ever had broken his chin. It was only Pacquiao who made Morales feel the daze of a punch to the head . . . but not after he gave Morales a good dose of abdominal shots.

When Pacquiao has taken much of Morales’ strength through body shots, then he could shift to the head, especially the nose, to let Morales breathe in gasps and . . . it’ll be over. Pacquiao via TKO!

It is a fact that the average Filipino of today is sorely wanting in his communication skills in English. Study after study show that while our Asian neighbors are vastly improving in their English language skills, the majority of us here in the Philippines seem to get worse in every passing moment notwithstanding the fact that English has always been a medium of instruction.

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