Anyone who thought Saturday night's "Double
Trouble" card would be simply tune up fights was sadly mistaken. In
the main event, Erik Morales was shocked by Zahir Raheem, who
won a 12
round unanimous decision. For Morales, it was his first loss to
someone not named
Barrera. Raheem was able to utilize his speed, and at times even
power, to get a clear cut decision in front of a crowd of 10,584
boxing fans, most of them Morales
supporters.
Raheem came out early and set the stage for the way the fight
would turn out. He frustrated Morales with his speed and his
footwork. Throughout the fight
Raheem was able to hit Morales and then get out of
Dodge. Raheem probably won the opening round, by just
being elusive, and landing an occasional left hand while in close. Morales may have done his best work in
the next couple of rounds. In the second round the
fight got a little more aggressive, and Raheem got out
of his game plan a bit. Halfway in, Morales landed a
solid 1-2 combo, and provoked Raheem to trade. Raheem
never fell into this trap again for the rest of the
fight.
Rounds three and four were close, Morales seemed
to do a little more damage, but it could have gone
either way. Raheem was able to land one shot at a
time, but not putting anything together until the
fifth round.
Raheem opened up the fifth round landing a couple
of shots, one at a time. Then all of a sudden, Raheem
shocked the Staples Center crowd with a hard straight
right hand, which wobbled Morales. Raheem didn't jump
on Morales at all, later saying that he was playing it
safe. This was a great round for Raheem, who starts to
turn the fight his way. The sixth round was close,
with Morales capping the round with a good combo with
Raheem on the ropes. Raheem really started to show his
speed to a weary Morales in the seventh. Raheem was
feinting and moving around consistently in this round, while
landing some decent shots.
The eighth round was good for Raheem; he started it
by snapping Morales' head back with a hard overhand right. Morales
was unable to do anything in the round, just lunging around
listlessly. Throughout the round Raheem was able to jab, throw a
right hand and get out before Morales could catch him.
Morales began to look frustrated, while Raheem grew
more confident in round nine. Again, Raheem was popping Morales
with left and right hands and then moving away. With the fight
slipping from Morales, he turned it up in the 10th round. However,
Raheem was less active with his hands and more active with his feet
as he chose to stay away.
Raheem
started to get too cute in the 11th, and Morales was able to land a
couple of good shots. Morales stalked Raheem to start the final
round, but continued to have trouble with Raheem's speed. Morales
just couldn’t find
Raheem in the final round, and Zahir's stick and move
tactics worked well to take the final round.
As the fight went to the cards it was questioned in the arena
whether Raheem could win a decision in Los Angeles, the question
was answered quickly to the dismay of the pro-Morales crowd. As
Michael Buffer read the scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 in
favor of Raheem; boos rained down from the crowd. BRC scored the
fight 115-113 for Raheem. Raheem pulls off what may be the upset of
the year. Raheem improves to 27-1, while Morales falls to 48-3.
For those of you thinking that the upset would kill a
possible Pacquiao-Morales rematch, don't worry. Bob Arum
announced that the
rematch will still take place on January 21st in Las
Vegas. So, the rematch is still on. Arum also said
that he felt the fight was even, (remember Raheem is
also a Top Rank fighter). Arum also said that Raheem
might fight Morales after Morales fights Pacquiao.
Manny Pacquiao also said that after the fight he
talked to Morales, and told him that the fight is
still on.
At the post fight press conference, Morales
obviously looked disappointed. He said he was happy it was a good
fight, even though the result was not ideal. Morales then talked of
his difficulties with Raheem, "he was a very difficult fighter, and
moving up in weight was tough, but his style frustrated me more
then the weight." He then talked about the outcome. "He hit me with
clean shots, but I hit him with clean shots too, but honestly I
still
thought that I won." He talked of the trouble fighting a slick
fighter like Raheem, "I can be a bad fighter against guys who don't
come at me, he ran all night. I promise you when I fight him again,
that it will be different."
Raheem seemed elated as expected about having pulled off what
could be the shocker of the year. Raheem first talked about Morales
and his future, "I beat a legend tonight, whoever Top Rank or my
manager Cameron Dunkin wants me to fight, I'll fight." Regarding
the result he added, "I never once thought that I lost, I felt I
was winning the whole way. I was overwhelmed and wanted to cry, but
Don House slapped me and said straighten up boy." It was also
announced that Zahir would continue to campaign at 130 pounds in the future.
In the co-main event, Manny Pacquiao took a while to get going, but eventually did, stopping Hector Velazquez at the
end of the sixth round. Pacquiao looked a little flat early on, and
later conceded that it just took him a little while to get going.
Velazquez was able to catch Pacquiao with his straight right all
night, and especially in the first round. On a couple of occasions
in the first round, Velazquez stopped Pacquiao in his tracks with
the right hand.
The second round got closer as Pacquiao landed a hard
left cross early in the round to slow down Velazquez, but Hector
came back with a hard left hook followed by a straight right which
may have stolen the round. Pacquiao started to get things rolling in the third round,
putting together left-right combinations that were being countered
effectively by Velazquez with the right hand.
Pacquiao started to chop away at Velazquez in the fourth round with
hard left hands. Velazquez was still competitive landing his right
hand. Pacquiao became a little more consistent with his left hand
in the fifth round, and he began to break down Velazquez.
The sixth round would be the disaster round for
Velazquez, who was keeping the fight competitive.
Pacquiao came out early and landed a short right hand, which
seemed to stun Velazquez just a bit. Then with
about 40 seconds left in the round, Manny landed another right
hand, which wobbled Velazquez. Velazquez began to scramble, just
trying to survive the round as Pacquiao unloaded combos. Just as it
looked like Velazquez might survive the round, Pacquiao unleashed a
barrage of punches, dropping him right at the sound of the bell.
Velazquez went to
his knees and beat the count, but referee Dr. Lou Moret waved off
the fight. Pacquiao wins by TKO at 2:59 of round 6,
improving his record to 40-3-2, while Velazquez falls to 42-11-2.
