Future Hall of Fame boxer Erik “El Terible” Morales hailed Filipino boxing sensation Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao as the strongest and quickest hands he has ever faced.
At a press conference prior to his second comeback fight against Scotland’s Willie Limond (33-2-8 KOs) on Saturday (Sunday) at Mexico City, the 34 year-old Morales (49-6-34 KOs) took part in RingTV.com series “The Best I ever faced” and named Pacquiao as the boxer with the quickest hands and the strongest he has ever faced in his boxing career.
“Pacquiao had the quickest hands. (Junior) Jones was faster with single punches from the outside, but Pacquiao could deliver four or five quick, short punches in combination in the blink of an eye. Both guys had the kind of speed that you couldn’t see,” Morales, who held titles in superbantamweight, featherweight and superfeatherweight before retiring in 2007 as a lightweight challenger, explained to RingTV writer/blogger Doug Fischer on how Pacman got his nod on the quickest hands department.
Morales, on the other hand, put Pacquiao as his strongest boxer he has ever faced because of his explosiveness in the ring.
“Often guys who are as muscular looking as he is aren’t that strong in the ring, but he is strong. Very strong. (In Jin) Chi was physically strong, too. He had the strength to push me around and wrestle with me on the inside, but Pacquiao was more explosive. He is a very powerful man in the ring,” Morales, who had classic bouts with the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Pacquiao, Jones, Chi, Wayne McCullough and Daniel Zaragoza, said.
Aside from Pacquiao, Morales named former rivals Zahir Raheem (smartest, best jabs); Jones (best boxer, best puncher); Chi (best chin) and Hector Acero-Sanchez (best defense and quickest feet) as the boxers who topped the other categories asked by the website.
But when asked who was the best fighter he ever faced, his answer was himself.
“If you’re talking about the toughest opponent I’ve faced, to be honest, his name was Erik Morales,” he seriously said.
“When I did things the right way and had proper training, boxing was easy for me, but all too often I did not do that. So, as you know, I had a lot of struggles,” he added.
“Honestly, I had too many tough fights to say one man was tougher than all the rest. I know fans want me to say that it was either Barrera or Pacquiao, but I don’t see it that way. That’s not how a fighter views things. There are fighters who people have forgotten about or never knew that were the toughest fights, the biggest fights for me at the time I fought them,” Morales gushed. (GHL)
