By Brad Slotnick: Former four-division world champion Erik Morales says Manny Pacquiao has a really “complicated” fight on his hands in facing the young, strong fighter Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr on August 21st.
Morales (52-9, 36 KOs), who beat Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in the first fight of their three-fight series in 2005, wonders what would make the 42-year-old Manny choose to fight Spence.
Morales, 44, doesn’t understand why Pacquiao would choose Spence of all people to fight. If it is a need for money on Pacquiao’s part, Morales wonders how much the Filipino star is being given to take such a fight.
Although Morales doesn’t come right out and say it, he has doubts about Pacquiao’s ability to win. The southpaw Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) is much bigger, younger, and stronger at 31, and he’s in the zenith of his career.
In contrast, Pacquiao left his best years behind him ten years ago, around 2011. So by the time Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015, he wasn’t the same fighter he’d been four years earlier.
Morales questions Pacquiao’s motivation
“It’s a real complicated fight for Pacquiao,” said Erik Morales to Fighthype on Pacquiao’s title challenge of Errol Spence Jr. “Errol Spence is a strong young fighter, and he’s a southpaw.
“That’s going to complicate things for Pacquiao. I don’t understand what the motivation is to get in the ring with Errol Spence.
“Well, how much are they giving him?” Erik Morales asked when told that Pacquiao might be focusing just on the money as his reasons for agreeing to fight Spence.
“How much are they offering him for the fight? I don’t know, but it’s a very complicated fight,” said Morales.
In choosing Spence, who some boxing fans believe is the most popular of the welterweights, Pacquiao will make excellent money. Moreover, Spence is seen by some as either the #1 or #2 147-pounder in the division today.
If Pacquiao loses to Spence, he won’t take as much flak from the boxing world as he would if he were to lose to a lesser welterweight.
At the same time, it helps Pacquiao’s boxing legacy and his chances of gaining a higher office in the Phillippines him taking a risky against Errol. Pacquiao is showing courage, and that obviously is admired by his fans and the voters back home in his country.
Money-wise, Pacquiao is picking the right guy to get a big payday by choosing Spence.
If Floyd Mayweather Jr were to come back, that would be the only guy that Pacquiao could make more money fighting than Spence.
Mayweather, 44, isn’t going to come back because he doesn’t want to jeopardize his unbeaten record. For Pacquiao, this is as good as it gets, and unfortunately, his chances of winning are quite low. Pacquiao is Mikey Garcia 2.0, and we saw what Spence did to him in 2019.
