‘Morales must be at his best’

Unless Erik Morales shows up in his best fighting form, the 30-year-old Mexican will surely be in for serious trouble against Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 18 in Las Vegas.

In a recent chat with boxingtalk.com, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach warned that Morales, who’d been to so many wars, might just suffer the same fate he had against Pacquiao the last time out.

"There is no doubt in my mind that this will be the best Morales so far. We will find out once and for all if he has one more good fight left him. If he doesn’t, he’s going to get knocked out," said Roach.

Morales, a former three-time world champion, is a legendary fighter. But following his awful 10th round knockout loss to Pacquiao last January, some doubts have been cast over his future.

There were big questions about his weight, in that he ballooned to 165 after losing to Pacquiao, and was still madly chasing the 130 lb limit a month before the fight set at the Thomas and Mack Center.

Pacquiao, on the contrary, had kept this weight in check since fighting and beating Mexican Oscar Larios in a tuneup match last July 2 at the historic Araneta Coliseum.

Morales hasn’t fought since losing to Pacquiao. And while he might come in at exactly 130 lbs on the eve of the fight and avoid a huge penalty, there’s no guarantee that he’d be rust-free.

But Roach, interviewed by Brad Cooney, would rather talk about his ward, how the training is going on and how close Pacquiao is to being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

"His (Pacquiao) camp is going good, he’s focused and we are working on some different moves. Manny is coming right along, he looks really good," said Roach.

"Pound for pound Manny will be the best in the world. Manny beat Hall of Fame fighters in Morales, and (Marco Antonio) Barrera, both of which will be Hall of Famers," added the celebrated ring tactician.

Barrera, the reigning World Boxing Council 130 lb champion, said he wants to fight Pacquiao on March 11 for a chance to avenge an 11th round knockout loss to the Filipino in 2003.

Barrera looks confident of a Pacquiao win over Morales as he announced the date of the rematch on the same day the WBC announced that he should face the winner of the Nov. 18 fight.