Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.
Jeff Haney's sports betting column appears Monday, Friday (gaming) and Wednesday (poker). Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or [email protected].
The new year's first big boxing event takes place Jan. 21, when Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao square off in a rematch of their sensational fight last March.
But there will be a man mysteriously missing from the main event at the Thomas & Mack Center that night: unheralded Zahir Raheem, whose upset victory against Morales in September has erased much of the luster from the promotion.
Morales and Pacquiao, both ranked among the most talented and exciting fighters in boxing's lighter weight divisions, put on one of the best shows fight fans saw all year on March 19.
Before a capacity crowd of more than 14,000 at the MGM Grand, the two super featherweights fought a close, action-filled bout, often going toe-to-toe and thrilling the audience by throwing punches relentlessly until the final bell.
Morales won a tight but unanimous 12-round decision by scores of 115-113 on all three judges' scorecards. Until a couple of guys named Castillo and Corrales began pummeling each other down the street at Mandalay Bay two months later, it was the top fight of 2005.
Talk of a rematch began almost right away, and why not?
All of the elements suggesting a compelling second meeting were there:
* Both fighters remain on everybody's list of the sport's top 10, pound-for-pound.
* The bout attracted rabid contingents of fans from Morales' native Mexico as well as Pacquiao's homeland of the Philippines.
* Pacquiao was hampered by blood streaming down his face throughout the second half of the fight after sustaining a cut in the fifth round, but still had enough left to stage a furious rally in the 12th. Officials ruled that a punch caused the cut; Pacquiao maintained it was a head butt.
* And -- here's a shocker in the sport of boxing -- there was even a bit of controversy. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said his fighter would have preferred to wear Reyes rather than Winning gloves as dictated by the terms of the contract. "Those Winning gloves are like pillows," Roach said.
Things appeared on track heading into a Sept. 10 card at Staples Center in Los Angeles, which featured co-main events pitting Pacquiao against Hector Velazquez and Morales against Raheem, a 1996 U.S. Olympian from Philadelphia.
It was billed as a sneak preview of the highly anticipated rematch, a blockbuster sequel that would inevitably take place -- if Pacquiao and Morales could only advance past their respective foes.
Never mind that both Pacquiao and Morales were overwhelming betting favorites at odds ranging from 8-1 to 10-1.
Pacquiao did his part, dispatching Velazquez by sixth-round technical knockout.
But then Morales sustained the third loss of his outstanding career, and the first to somebody not named Barrera. He dropped a unanimous decision by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 to Raheem, who has a record of 27-1 with 16 knockouts but has never held a world title.
"He was very difficult to fight," Morales said at the time. "He's very elusive. He never really put up a fight because he was moving around so much. He hit me with a lot of punches, but he also missed a lot."
Morales also protested the judges' scoring, but he didn't have much of a case. Raheem used his speed and movement to get the best of his more celebrated opponent.
Shortly thereafter, promotional posters began showing up inside Wynn Las Vegas, the host casino for the Jan. 21 fight, bearing the visages of Pacquiao and ... not Raheem, but Morales.
They were going ahead with the rematch, as if the September card in L.A. never happened.
I would have rather seen Raheem's face on those posters, considering he stepped up and won the biggest fight of his life, and did it in front of a hostile, pro-Morales crowd.
Sure, Morales is a fight fan favorite and Raheem is relatively unknown. Still, his big upset should count for something -- such as a chance to face Morales in a rematch, or find out what he can do against Pacquiao.
I suppose Raheem will get another shot at the big time -- eventually. Maybe he'll get another crack at Morales, if "El Terrible" wins his rematch against Pacquiao.
Or, considering how this game works, maybe he'll get it even if Morales loses.
archive
