Schooled Pac?! It was a brawl that was a close but clear victory for the Mexican, but in no way did he get "schooled". Even in victory, Morales shipped a shitload of punishment in that fight. Plus, Pacquiao got cut by a headbutt in the 5th which didn't help him, either.
GPater- I meant Pac didn't win either fight in my book Pontius- He got outboxed thoroughly when the fight took that route, only when the fight devolved into a brawl in spots (which it always did with Morales) did Pacquiao have success. Even then, Morales put in the better work throughout, and even went southpaw in the final round. Obviously Morales took a lot of punishment in return. When didn't he? He still thoroughly outboxed him.
I agree with the gist of this post, Sweet Pea is rarely not bang on the money, but I can't concur with the Morales comment here. To my mind the first fight was a long way from a schooling, and I am highly sceptical of this view that Morales had undergone a significant decline in the year between his win over Pacquiao and his first defeat by him. Of course he looked a different fighter in the third fight, but I think a lot of that can be attributed to the mental effect of being thoroughly broken for the first time in his career in their second fight. IMO Morales fought hard for 10 violent rounds in the second fight, his main error was a machismo desire to fight rather than box like he did in the first for extended periods. The result of the second fight was more to do with the renewed hunger and ever-developing ability of Pacquaio than it did to a rapid 12-month decline. Morales was clearly a different animal in the last fight because he was no longer capable of fighting at the level of ferocity demanded by this fixture until the late rounds. He still was in the 2nd. JMHO :good
Well, my point is, when you win by only one or two rounds difference, you don't "thoroughly" outbox someone, let alone school him. Plus, let's not forget that when Pac was able to make it a brawl, this was because he connected with a big punch or combination, so it was still his own doing. It was a close and competitive, great fighter that was clearly won by Morales, but in no way a one-sided schooling or whatever.
Duran was more devastating against lesser opponents and Pacman has beaten better guys.. Duran is lucky he did not fight Pacman's below 135 pound level.. He was better than everyone he fought at 135 bigtime. Pacman fought guys at that top level more and came out on top. Duran did fight top level post 135 when he fought Hearns/Hagler/Benitez.Leonard and he didn't do that well at that level to be honest, although his fans use excuses.