BraggingRightsCorner.com - " No real loser tonight "... by Kenny Perrault

Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao treated the boxing world to a great fight tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was all action from the opening bell as both men took turns pounding on each other. As usual Pacquiao was looking to land his left hand but Morales had his right hand glued to his face throughout the bout blocking as much punishment as he could. Morales tried to use his reach advantage but often found himself slugging it out with Pacquiao.

Most of the rounds were tough to score; just when it seemed one man had the round in the bag, the other man would come right back dishing out his own punishment. In the fifth round the ringside doctor was brought in to look at a nasty cut that had developed over Pacquiao's right eye. The cut was ruled as a punch and not a head butt but replays showed a clash of heads was responsible for the the gash. The doctor took a lengthy look at the eye and while many in the arena had a feeling the fight may be stopped, Pacquiao was allowed to continue and the fight picked up right where it left off.

Morales did his best to pin point his punches to land on the cut and many of them did, as the rounds pressed on both men had to dig deep inside themselves to maintain the intensity of their performances. If either fighter were to slow down just a little bit and give the other man the edge it could have been fight over. Both men looked hurt at times but there was no backing up; the bout was always fought at a frantic pace and all the punches were delivered with bad intentions behind them.

The 12^th and final round was an all out war. Both men stood their ground and exchanged brutal punches. When it was all said and done all three judges scored it in favor of Erik Morales with the scores of 115-113. I had the fight scored 115-114 for Pacquiao. As I stated earlier many of the rounds were close to score the fight could have gone to either man without any complaints. Erik Morales improves his record to 48-2 (34 KO’s) while Manny Pacquiao drops to 39-3-2 (30 KO’s).

The co-main event was a 12 round WBC Flyweight elimination bout between Hussein Hussein and Jorge Arce. Like in the main event this bout started off quickly with both men throwing all they had. Hussein was rocked very early in round one, it looked as if he would go down but he managed to regain his legs and fight on. It was clear that Hussein was the sharper puncher in the bout while Arce was a bit on the wild side. Arce continued to put the pressure on as the rounds passed. Arce would push Hussein back to the ropes where much of the fighting was done. Arce would throw punches in bunches while Hussein waited to throw his own.

"El Travieso" Arce suffered a nasty cut that the ringside doctor had to look at. Arce got the sign of approval to fight on and that he did. As in the main even both men gave as good as they got but finally in the 10^th round Arce sent Hussein to the canvas. Before he could rise to his feet Hussein’s corner man Jeff Fenech jumped in the ring to stop the bout, giving Jorge Arce the win at 2:07 seconds of the tenth round. Jorge Arce improves his record to 39-3-1 (28 KO’s) while Hussein Hussein drops to 26-2 (20 KO’s).

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. made easy work of Ryan Maraldo. Maraldo did his best but his best wasn’t enough as Chavez Jr. beat him from ring post to ring post. Chavez Jr. was penalized a point in the second round for low blows but the deduction was not a factor in the fight as the referee finally called a halt to the bout at 2:56 of the third round. Maraldo never went down in the bout but was taking too much punishment. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Improves his record 17-0 (12 KO’s) while Ryan Maraldo drops to 19-15-1 (5 KO’s).

In the most uneventful fight of the night WBA super flyweight champion Martin Castillo cruised to an easy 12 round decision over former champion Eric Morel. Morel simply didn’t do enough to win the fight, winning all but one round on the judge’s scorecards. This fight was a sleeper with little action. The crowd gave a sigh of relief when the final bell sounded. All three judges scored it 119-109 in favor of the champion Martin Castillo. Martin Castillo ups his record to 28-2 (16 KO’s) while Erik Morel drops to 35-2 (18 KO’s).