Pacquiao vs Morales, 2005-2006: How a Close Decision Became Two Knockouts

Between March 2005 and November 2006, Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales met three times in Las Vegas at super featherweight. Morales won the first fight on all three cards, Pacquiao stopped him in the tenth round of the second, and the third was over inside three rounds. Across twenty months, one of the sport's most watched rivalries swung completely from one side to the other.

Two Champions on a Collision Course

When the rivalry began, both men had already built reputations that reached well beyond their home countries. Morales, born in Tijuana in 1976, was a Mexican champion who would eventually hold world titles in four weight classes, from super bantamweight up to light welterweight. Pacquiao, born in Kibawe, Bukidnon, in 1978, was a Filipino southpaw known for speed and a heavy left hand, and he was steadily moving up through the lighter divisions.

Wikipedia's fight record lists Morales at 47-2 with 34 knockouts and Pacquiao at 39-2-2 with 31 knockouts going into their first meeting. The bout was billed as "Coming With Everything" and sold on HBO pay-per-view. It was scheduled for twelve rounds at super featherweight, with the vacant WBC International and IBA super featherweight belts at stake. Wikipedia gives Morales' purse as $2.5 million and Pacquiao's as $1.75 million.

March 19, 2005: Morales Wins on the Cards at the MGM Grand

The first fight was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with Morales weighing 130 pounds and Pacquiao 129½, according to Wikipedia. The Sweet Science reported that the first two rounds were evenly contested, and from the third round on Morales took charge through better ring generalship. The fifth round turned out to be decisive. Pacquiao was cut over his right eye, but the sources do not agree on how. Philippine Star columnist Joaquin Henson, quoting cornerman Buboy Fernandez, called it an accidental headbutt. The Sweet Science said it could have been a clash of heads or a Morales left hook. The Wikipedia fight article blames a Morales right hand. According to Fernandez, the cut forced Pacquiao's corner to drop its original plan and push for a knockout.

Pacquiao came on late, and The Sweet Science wrote that he appeared to win the closing rounds. It was not enough. Judges Chuck Giampa, Dave Moretti and Paul Smith each scored the fight 115-113 for Morales, so he won a unanimous decision. The Associated Press and HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman both had it wider, at 116-112. Boxing News editor Claude Abrams, as quoted by the Philippine Star, scored it level at 114-114. After the fight, Pacquiao told The Sweet Science that Morales' style had been different from Marco Antonio Barrera's.

Ten Months Between Fights

The two fighters went in opposite directions over the next ten months. In September 2005 Morales lost a unanimous decision to Zahir Raheem, leaving him at 48-3. Pacquiao won once in that period and came into the rematch at 40-3-2. The second fight was a WBC super featherweight title eliminator, with the winner in line for a shot at the WBC belt. Wikipedia and Boxing News give different accounts of what else was on the line: Boxing News says Pacquiao was defending a WBC International belt, while the Wikipedia article lists the bout only as an eliminator.

January 21, 2006: The Body Attack and a Tenth-Round Stoppage

The rematch moved to the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. Wikipedia lists Pacquiao at 128½ pounds and Morales at 130. In his ringside column for the Philippine Star, Bill Velasco wrote that Roach's game plan was to attack the body. Through the middle rounds Pacquiao kept working Morales' ribs and torso. Velasco identified the sixth round as the turning point, when Pacquiao hurt Morales in the closing minute and drove him into the ropes. By the ninth, he wrote, Morales was breathing through his mouth and looked dazed.

The end came in the tenth. Agence France-Presse, as published by Arab News, reported that Pacquiao dropped Morales with a left hook with a little under a minute left in the round. It was the first knockdown of Morales' career. He beat the count but went down again moments later, and referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight at 2:33 of the round. It was the first time Morales had ever been stopped. Pacquiao moved to 41-3-2, Morales fell to 48-4, and the result made Pacquiao the WBC's leading contender.

November 18, 2006: Three Rounds at the Thomas & Mack

Ten months later they met for a third time, again at the Thomas & Mack Center, with Pacquiao's WBC International super featherweight title on the line. Pacquiao had won once more in the meantime and came in at 42-3-2. Both men weighed 129 pounds. According to Wikipedia, it was Pacquiao's first fight under a new four-year contract with Top Rank and also marked his return to HBO. The Sweet Science and the Philippine Star both put the crowd at 18,276, which they described as the second-largest boxing attendance in the arena's history.

David A. Avila of The Sweet Science wrote that the first round started cautiously, with both men measuring each other until Pacquiao let his hands go late in the round. In the second, a counter left from Pacquiao sent Morales down onto the seat of his trunks. In the third, a right hook hurt Morales and a left hand put him down again. Referee Vic Drakulich counted him out at 2:57 of the round. The sources count the knockdowns differently. The Wikipedia fight article says there were three in total. Avila's report describes two, one in the second round and the one in the third from which Morales did not beat the count.

Pacquiao told The Sweet Science that the right hook had caught Morales by surprise and that he knew in the second round he had hurt him. Morales accepted the result without argument. "You need to know when you're beaten," he told the same outlet.

Money, Aftermath and Legacy

The rivalry was also a major commercial success. Wikipedia reports that the third fight drew 350,000 HBO pay-per-view buys and about $17.5 million in revenue. In the week after the fight, the Philippine Star cited promoter Bob Arum's figure of roughly 700,000 buys for the first two fights combined. Wikipedia's Morales article puts total pay-per-view revenue for the trilogy at about $49.5 million.

The win was supposed to make Pacquiao the mandatory challenger for WBC champion Marco Antonio Barrera, but that fight was called off because of a dispute between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. Morales told HBO's Larry Merchant that night that this might be the right way to end his career. He stayed away from the ring until 2010, then came back at lightweight and light welterweight. The International Boxing Hall of Fame inducted him in 2018 and Pacquiao in its class of 2025. The Ring named Pacquiao its Fighter of the Year for 2006.

Looking back, the first fight shows how close the rivalry was at the start, with all three judges separated by only two points. The two fights that followed were not close. In the third meeting Pacquiao finished in under nine minutes a man who had never been stopped before January 2006.

Sources

• Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao, Wikipedia, accessed 2026
• Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao II, Wikipedia, accessed 2026
• Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales III, Wikipedia, accessed 2026
• Erik Morales; Manny Pacquiao (biographies), Wikipedia, accessed 2026
• Erik Morales Schools Manny Pacquiao, Matthew Aguilar, The Sweet Science, March 19, 2005
• Manny sticks to Freddie, Joaquin M. Henson, The Philippine Star, April 8, 2005
• A fight well-planned, Bill Velasco, The Philippine Star, January 23, 2006
• Pacquiao Stops Morales, Agence France-Presse via Arab News, January 23, 2006
• On This Day: Manny Pacquiao gains revenge over Erik Morales, Matt Bevan, Boxing News, January 21, 2019
• Manny Pacquiao Drops Bombs on Erik Morales, David A. Avila, The Sweet Science, November 19, 2006
• Three's a charm, Joaquin M. Henson, The Philippine Star, November 26, 2006