I know Morales wasn't at his prime, but many people say "He beat an old Morales, itsnit a good win", completely ignoring how green Pacquiao was. Morales was still a very good fighter who had slowed down a little, whereas Pacquiao was still green and relied far too much on his physical attributes. You can't detract from Pacquiao's win if Morales was old, because Morales was closer to his prime. Pacquiao was still a very good fighter back then, but he isn't the one we know now. I just think that if you're going to use Morales age to make the victory seem less significant, it's important to remember that it wasn't prime Pacquiao either, so it more or less, evens itself out.
Morales' weight issues are what troubled him more than his age. He killed himself to cut down and then showed up with no legs - every time he got hit cleanly, he went down. This is completely uncharacteristic for a guy who was known for his granite chin. It's also clear that Pac is definitely a MUCH more complete fighter now than he was then.
Pacquiao still relied too much on his offensive side, and his left hand. But Morales was gone after losing weight for that fight, as above mentioned, his legs had gone. Pacquiao may not have hit prime, and as you say was still green. But Pacquiao still had a lot left in the tank, whereas Morales in my opinion was shot.
Yeah but Pacman was approaching his prime and he didn't have to kill himself to make 130 tie that in with the fact Morales's no longer the fighter he once. Fact is Morales wasn't just past his prime he was shot.
Forget Morales' age. How about the fact that he looked like a skeleton at the weigh in and had just gotten his ass kicked by Raheem in his previous fight?
[yt]9ysiGSBflIo[/yt] Morales didnt look right weight draining is an issue for fighters, some are affected more than others, and the older you get probably has an effect on your weight draining
Id much rather be the younger, less worn fighter thats still to hit his absolute best than the older, battle worn fighter ready for the taking. Honestly... :-(... Pacquiao gets more than enough credit for his recent fights, lets not start exaggerrating **** & overrating what actually went on now.... The usual on here.
Pacquaio wasnt far from his prime at all, Morales was shot, Raheem won every round against Morales pretty much
It happens. The guy looked like a Colossus at 122, and he was able to fight that low because of his great ability to cut weight. At that stage of his career, (Pac trilogy) he was in weight class limbo. Having a hard time cutting for 130, or being not a hard enough hitter and not a fresh fighter already at 135.
No he wasn't, Pre-Morales Pacquiao had been in far fewer wars than Morales. Morales by 2006 had been in 3 wars with Barrera, a number of fights with guys that were very tough, and had been completely dominated by Zahir Raheem. By the time Pacquiao had beat him, he was done as a Pro.
Morales was past his physical prime by the time of the Pacquiao fights, but if you give him credit for beating Pac (the best win of his career) then you have to give Pac the same credit for beating him a measly 10 or 11 months later. Morales lost to Raheem because he wasn't comfortable at 135 and because Raheem was a bad style match-up for him, a slippery character. Morales fought very similarly in the 2nd fight to how he did in the 1st, it was Pacquiao who was different. Stronger, smarter. Morales was badly affected by that fight, and never recovered. Once the warrior had been saved by the referee once, his self-image was shattered and his decline was rapid.
Morales was past his prime, and Pacquiao was still a bit green, I can live with that. But if both fought when they were in their prime Morales would still have won, only reason Morales lost the second fight was because he faded, he was beating Pacquiao´s ass in the second fight just like he did in the first, but somewhere between the middle rounds he started to fade.