Electricity Like No Other: Part II
John Chavez - 3/25/2005
So as I stated in part I of this drunken tirade that I was surprised
at how loud the Pacman crowd was when their warrior came out to "Eye
of the Tiger". I thought that the Morales fans might potentially be
out-shined in this one. But there went that classic sound of the
Mexican Banda music. I swear that I felt as though the roof of the
Arena was going to pop right off. Right then and there I knew that
this was the reason that I came to Sin City. There's only so much
juice and energy that you can get from the TV set. Don't get me wrong,
watching a fight on television has the benefits of replay and
commentary as well as detailed camera angles, but this event had to be
seen live and in person. Mexican flags were being waved EVERYWHERE.
The buzz dropped off half a decibel as Michael Buffer made the
fighter's introductions, but once again with both sides cheering
throughout his patented ,"Let's get ready to rumble!!!" the crowd
broke into a frenzy that I'll never forget. Each second that passed
from that point on until the first bell rang felt like an eternity.
Every single person in the arena was completely captivated by these
two 130 pound warriors.
All questions would be answered whether El Terrible could handle the Filipino's hard lefts and whether he would
box a disciplined match. The bell sounds and it's on and CRACKIN!!!
Both fighters come out sizing each other up. I won't go into detail
about the fight since there are numerous other more sober, coherent
first hand accounts that I'm sure you readers have read, but what
happened next really set the tone for the fight. Pacman did his usual
strong 1-2 combo and the Pacman crowd went crazy expecting Morales to
burst on impact, but that didn't happen. All it did was piss the
little Mexican off.
I had predicted before the fight that I didn't
think that the same shots that put Marquez down would have floored
Morales. I was correct. Damn it feels good to be me. In any case,
Morales takes the shots and comes back with a furious combo of his
own. In my eyes, that was the story of the fight, Pacquiao getting off
first and Erik retaliating with even more fury. The thing that
captivated me as a fan was the fury and intensity you could see both
guys attacking with. They were both going for blood. Surprisingly
enough, although the crowd was divided evenly and there was a fair
amount of tension in the air, no fights or skirmishes broke out. I
think it had to do with the respect that both sides had for their
warriors and that nobody wanted to detract from the action taking
place in the ring. A lot of respect was going around on both sides.
By
the 12th round, it was unanimous among the crowd on hand that Erik had
the fight more or less in the bag but the warrior in him wanted to
close the show. Even though he lost the last round, he showed what a
crazy warrior he is. Pacquiao definitely showed his heart and soul in
the fight as well and a rematch would be another one for the ages.
While I had planned to party it up after the fight, I felt a sense of
euphoria and just wanted to converse with other fight fans about
this game we love so much. Boxing is a sport that is unmatched by no
other, not the super bowl, world series, or the NBA finals can
captivate an audience like Morales and Pacquiao did last weekend.
Hopefully we'll see another classic in the summer or fall. Do I hear
Morales fighting the winner of Castillo-Corrales.???
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