Morales confident of beating Pacquiao

In confident mood, Mexican ring star Erik Morales expressed he is out to beat Manny Pacquiao in their hotly-anticipated rubbermatch billed as "The Grand Finale" this Saturday night (Sunday morning in RP) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"I'm ready to win," Morales told fightnews.com straight from his training in the mountains of Otomi situated north of Mexico City.

"It's a tough fight, it's a difficult fight and it's one that I'm going to win," added Morales.

Pacquiao and Morales hold an even head-to-head record during their past two encounters.

Morales won their first battle by the narrowest of margins in March last year.

Pacquiao, however, exacted vengeance in stunning fashion, knocking down Morales twice in the 10th round to hand the Mexican his first defeat via TKO in his decorated career during their rematch last January also in Las Vegas.

As directed by the WBC during its annual convention recently in Croatia, the winner of the Pacquiao-Morales III will earn a mandatory shot at the WBC super featherweight title currently held by another Mexican legend in Marco Antonio Barrera.

But whatever the result of the third bout between Pacquiao and Morales, it seems that the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch is already a done deal as HBO has reportedly booked a March 2007 date for that potential match-up.