Despite Erik Morales’ stunning loss to American Zahir Raheem at the Staples Center, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum told a packed press conference that things will go on as planned.
"It’s not going to derail the rematch. We’re going ahead with that fight," said Arum, who tried so hard to hide his disappointment over the loss of his prized fighter.
Morales and Pacquiao were both expected to get past their rivals Saturday in preparation for a repeat of their classic encounter last March at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Morales won that one, a bloody 12-round decision that had a lot of boxing fans worldwide begging for a rematch, tentatively set Jan. 21 somewhere in Vegas.
"And it’s going to be a great fight," Arum continued.
"The Filipinos will surely be even more bullish with what happened to Morales tonight. I’m sure they will bet more money in that rematch," Arum said.
Pacquiao and Morales are guaranteed at least $1.75 million each for the rematch.
During the post-fight interview, Pacquiao said it doesn’t matter to him if Morales lost the fight he was supposed to win. He said everybody’s waiting for the rematch, and they will get it.
"I will give Morales the rematch," he said.
Morales only looked glad that despite the loss, the rematch is still on.
Pacquiao’s trainer, American Freddie Roach, said his ward will definitely do better against Morales when they meet again.
"We’ll train harder for this one. In the first fight, we kinda underestimated Morales because Manny Pacquiao beat (Marco Antonio) Barrera and Barrera beat Morales," he said.
"That won’t happen again," he added.
Gary Shaw, Pacquiao’s new promoter, was even bolder.
"Pacquiao will beat Morales in the rematch. He will win by knockout," he declared.