Winning is losing: In 'Battle of Gloves' as Morales uses Cleto Reyes brand

Filipino sports hero Manny "The Destroyer" Pacquiao somewhat scored an early victory over his Mexican rival Erik "El Terible" Morales after reports came about that Morales is now using Cleto Reyes gloves.

Fightnews.com reported that Morales, who usually wears Winning gloves, has been wearing a puncher's glove, Cleto Reyes, while training for his hotly-anticipated rematch with Pacquiao billed as "The Battle" on HBO Pay-Per-View on January 21 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales made the switch while working out with his new trainer Jose "Maestro" Luis, Sr. in the cold mountains of Mexico.

Gloves were a big issue in the epic Pacquiao-Morales fight last March 19 at the MGM Grand Hotel. Pacquiao was forced to use Winning brand instead of his favorite Mexico-made Reyes gloves because it was mandated in the contract.

After the bout wherein Morales won by scores of 115-113 in all three judges' scorecards, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said "those were the wrong kind of gloves for Manny."

In fact, some of Pacquiao fans believe the General Santos City fighter failed to knock out Morales in the first fight because of the gloves their idol wore. Winning wasn't a puncher's gloves like the Cleto Reyes, which has less padding favoring heavy hitters like Pacquiao,

Winning is a Japanese made gloves designed to protect the hands and the extra thick padding takes the power out of punches. Pundits theorized that Morales uses these because he has small brittle hands and has had injuries to them in the past.

In their return bout, Pacquiao and Morales can wear whatever kind of gloves they want. In this case, Pacquiao wants to show he can knock out Morales in their rematch while using puncher's gloves.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao, who is now in the thick of torrid training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, tendered a simple party during his 27th birthday last Saturday in Los Angeles.

Aside from Roach, also around to wish him good luck and more birthdays to come were his promoter Gary Shaw and lawyers Nick Khan and Keith Davidson.

Back home, Pacquiao received a belated birthday gift as his Gensan Pacman stunned Cebu City's M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Jewelers in overtime, 91-88, to win the championship of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) Pre-Season Tournament last Monday at the Cebu Coliseum.

Pacquiao's wife, Jinkee, witnessed Pacman grabbing its third straight crown in just a two-month span. Gensan Pacman earlier topped invitational tournaments in Tagum City, Davao and in Maramag, Bukidnon.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao considers his second encounter with Morales as the biggest fight in his life.

"Oh, yeah, for me this is the biggest fight in my life. So it's very important to me, this rematch," Pacquiao told maxboxing.com. "It's very big and important. I need to win this fight because everybody, all my countrymen are hoping for my victory and they believe I'll beat him."