Erik upbeat, predicts a repeat in rematch

Three-time world champion Erik "El Terrible" Morales, in deep training in the mountains of Mexico for his upcoming fight with Manny Pacquiao on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas, on Wednesday said he is as much focused and excited as the Filipino ring icon but believes he will still come out the winner the second time around.

Morales said he’s very pleased with the way he’s been training for the highly-anticipated match at the Thomas and Mack Center, stressing that his buildup, under new trainer Jose Luis Lopez Jr., has been one of the best he’s had in years.

"My (training) camp is one of the best I’ve had," said Morales as quoted by Fightnews.com.

Morales, who scored a unanimous decision win over Pacquiao the first time they met last year, has been sparring with former world champions Freddie Norwood and Daniel Atah.

The Mexican champ also said he is expecting contender Steven Luevano to arrive "any day," according to Fightnews.com.

In his own press conference Tuesday, Pacquiao told mediamen that he is all focused, ready and raring to even things up with Morales, saying the rematch will be an entirely different story.

"I am 100 percent focused and I want to win this fight," said Pacquiao, who partly attributed his last year’s setback to Morales to a number of distractions, including one involving the fight gloves.

"Yes, I will wear (Cleto) Reyes gloves this time," said Pacquiao. "But what makes this fight different to the previous one is that I have no problems with my manager now, and no problems with my promoter, so I have no distractions. I am working very hard with my training and I am all focused for this fight."

Meanwhile, Solar Sports, the leading sports channel in the country, underlined its commitment of bringing the colossal sporting events to more households by buying a timeslot on giant network ABS-CBN for the telecast of the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Eric Morales.

The much-anticipated fight is slated on Jan. 21 (Jan. 22 in Manila) at the Thomas Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The Filipino ring idol lost to the Mexican via unanimous decision on their first meeting.

The bigwigs of Solar Sports and ABS-CBN forged a deal last Dec. 23 to simulcast the event dubbed as "The Battle."

Present during the signing at Le Souffle Rockwell Club were Wilson and William Tieng and Peter Chanliong of Solar Sports and ABS-CBN executives Eugenio Lopez III, Luis Alejandro and Peter Musngi.