Morales says loss to Raheem thing of the past

What happened last September won’t happen this time.

This Erik Morales has vowed as he enters the final phase of the preparations for his highly-publicized rematch with Manny Pacquiao on Jan. 21 at the spacious Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales will climb the ring bearing memories of a stunning loss to Olympian Zahir Raheem last September at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

It was a fight that the Mexican boxer was supposed to win.

"I know I let a lot of people down with my last performance," Morales said in a radio interview the other day as he comes closer to wrapping up his training in Querataro, Mexico.

The official press conference for the coming fight is scheduled Jan. 18 at the Mouton Ballroom of Wynn Las Vegas, the official hotel, which is also the newest and the most expensive in Vegas.

The final weigh-in, which is open to the public, is at 3 p.m. the day before the fight, at the Margaux Ballroom of the same hotel. Both fighters should weigh in no more than 130 lbs.

Morales, at 29 carrying a 48-3-34 (KO) record, was clearly way off his element when he fought Raheem in a card that also featured Pacquiao who knocked out Hector Velasquez in six rounds.

Morales and Pacquiao facing separate foes on that night in LA was actually just a run-up to the Jan. 21 bout billed as "The Battle." It’s a rematch of the epic battle last March, won by Morales.

"I know I can do better than what I showed last September in Los Angeles and I will prove it on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas," the Mexican said in the interview from Querataro, 200 miles off the city.

Morales said he’s gladly looking forward to the coming fight "to show his fans that he can still fight and defeat the best fighters in the world."

Morales has been training since late November for this match while Pacquiao, who turned 27 last December, has been at it for more than a month, staying in LA and training at the Wild Card Gym.

The Filipino ring icon, 40-3-2 (KO), said he’s been working hard in training, sweating it out under the 5-degree weather in Los Angeles. It will be colder, close to zero degrees, in Vegas by fight night. Pacquiao’s trainer, American Freddie Roach, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Filipino "knocks out Morales." But he added this would only happen if Pacquiao "sticks to the game plan."

Morales, however, has plans of his own, saying the loss to Raheem drove him to work harder in training.

He said this is all he needs to stop Pacquiao a second straight time.

"Sometimes a defeat is good to change things up and that’s why I made some changes in my team and in my training site," said Morales, the epitome of a classic boxer.

"I have had a very good camp, the weather has being great here and I have being able to get all my work done," added the former three-time world champion.

"I expect the fight to be even better than the first one. Now we know each other better and know what each is capable of doing. I think the fans will get a great fight and something to remember for a long time."

Looking back to the Sept. 10 battle, Morales added: "It was a very tough fight, very intense and very competitive thru the 12 rounds. But I felt that I was able to dictate the pace and handle his power and speed very well. I took full advantage of my size and made him work for everything he got."