How big is Morales win against Pacquiao going to become?

1st highlighted part - Morales ABSOLUTE peak was from 1998-2000 so Id say he was quite a bit past his peak & without question at the tail end of his prime, this fight knocked the `eliteness:yep` out of Morales, one war too many.

2nd part - Morales wasnt Mickey Ward, he was 100% A+ p4p greatness, his standard was extremely high & you better believe that if a 147 lb fighter that mirrored a peak Morales stepped into the ring with Pac, there is a very strong chance Pac gets his ass beat, we aint talking Cotto here, Morales is the best fighter Pac has ever fought (maybe not that version tho as Manny caught him late in his career)

3rd part - The Morales of the 1st Pac fight beats Raheem clearly regardless of weight or styles, that fight finished Morales as an elite.

:good

 

I think the win is really solidified. Not to mention he was shot after the fight. I knew Pacquiao was going to win the rematch because Morales lost to Raheem. After that I thought Morales was past it. Morales fought brave in the rematch but his legs quit on him. I remember in his corner they were icing his legs. The third fight was unecessary and a blow out. Morales went down and didn really try to get up. Looking at the monster Pac became it makes Morales look great especially if Manny retires without losing again.

 

I think Morales' win is not getting its just due.

Before Morales, Pac drew with MM before Morales, after Morales he barely won against JMM in controversial fashion.

What real indication is there that Pac improved so draastically? What his success in the higher weights tells me is how special the JMM/Barrera/Morales/Pac quartet were and how great they were in a p4p sense.

What made the first Morales v. Pac fight so special was that it was about the only time they could have met when they were both at or near their peaks.

 

You could argue Morales did it against a better Manny than either Barrera or Marquez fought. There's no way a fighter goes through a Juan Manuel Marquez I type fight without learning something. Popkins and I will always disagree regarding the state of Morales by his second fight with Pacquiao. He gave a spirited effort in the first four rounds, but a prime Morales would have won that fight as well in my judgment, and certainly wouldn't have been licked by a Raheem type fighter, I don't care how bad a stylistic match-up he is.

Neither Barrera or Morales were prime for their rubber match, although Barrera certainly put in a great performance...he usually does when he has something to prove, let's be honest. Can't penalize Morales for underestimating a man that was blitzed by Manny Pacquiao, all the critics and fans did too.

 

I actually agree with all of this post :good

 

The only reason Pacquiao vs Marquez I was a draw, or an unofficial win by Pac by some, is because Pacquiao dropped Marquez 3 times in the first round. The rest of the fight is Marquez taking Pac to school. You can argue Marquez won 8 or 9 rounds in that fight. I may have scored their first fight for Pacquiao, but it didn't look as though he belonged in the same ring with Marquez after the first round. I scored the rematch for Marquez, but it did not appear that Marquez had quite as much to teach. The 2nd fight looked like Marquez was the better fighter in a contest of fighters on the same playing field.

I saw an improvement in the fight he lost with Morales. Pacquiao has become a two handed fighter. That is the bulk of the improvement really, but he seems to be more cerebral at the higher weights. Pacquiao is now using his footwork to take advantage of the rest of his athleticism. Pac seemed to be going through the motions his last couple fights at 130.

I agree that Manny's later success elevates Morales' and Barrera's statuses.

Not all fans. I posted something similar to the following in a thread leading up to Pac and Barrera's rematch.

Barrera's strategy in the first fight was to impose his will on his lesser experienced fighter, and to let him know he was outmatched. That didn't sound like a bad strategy going into that fight, because most people were shocked by what happened when the fight took place. I did notice that Barrera did not look that bad when he got up and starting tying to out box Pacquiao. It just looked like it was too much a task after the blasting he had taken early on. I always wondered what would have happened if he tried to fight that way from the fight's beginning, instead of waiting until being nearly knocked out. I was near picking Barrera for the rematch in fact. In my mind it was a near even fight.

I did not think Barrera was a shot fighter after his first fight with Pac. I thought he was a good fighter with the wrong game plan. I don't think any version of Barrera could have defeated Manny Pacquiao in that fashion. I do think a younger Barrera could have outboxed Manny after the lesson learned in fight 1.

 

Interesting insight, but 85% of people expected Marco to lose to Morales in 2004 and 95% expected him to lose to Manny in 05.