Morales fought his past, too

LAS VEGAS -- Just to be on the safe side, Erik Morales had a rematch clause in his contract for Saturday night's second business meeting with Manny Pacquiao. If he's wise, he won't exercise it.

Five rounds into what turned into a classic struggle between a fighter on the rise and one beginning to fade, Morales held a clear advantage over the smaller Pacquiao.

Then, late in the 10th round, he was on the floor for only the second time in his career.

Pacquiao became the first fighter to stop Morales, dropping him twice in the 10th round with blistering salvos before referee Kenny Bayless called a halt to what had become a mugging at the Thomas & Mack Center. But it was not simply Pacquiao who defeated Morales. It was also Marco Antonio Barrera and Jesus Chavez and Injin Chi and Wayne McCullough and Daniel Zaragoza and countless lesser-known fighters whose punches Morales had accepted in exchange for the right to land the bombs that had won him 48 of his previous 51 fights.

But that style, a warrior's style, so exciting and revered by Mexican fight fans, is unforgiving. Morales's demise Saturday was a reminder to everyone in the crowd of 14,618 that warriors usually end up bloody and beaten if they compete for too long.

That was the way Morales (48-4) appeared late in the fight after Pacquiao had bounced so many well-timed rights and nasty lefts off his head that the three-time world champion later told one of his cornermen, ''I was very dizzy. He hit me so many times in the head."

So many times that Morales's skull was riddled with small bumps, he had swollen cheeks and what appeared to be a broken nose, and he had a headache that no amount of aspirin could dull. After a respite in the quiet of his locker room, instead of heading to the postfight news conference, Morales slipped into an ambulance for Valley Hospital.

Certainly, 29 is young in most professions, but for a fighter with Morales's style, it is not. A professional since he was 16, Morales has lost three of his last four fights, each by a more convincing margin. The slide began a year and a half ago when he lost a close majority decision to Barrera, his hated rival from Mexico, falling behind early before rallying desperately to win the final four rounds so convincingly many felt he'd pulled out another one.

Many wrote Morales off at that point, though, for it was the second time he'd been beaten by Barrera in three meetings. Morales came back against Pacquiao last year, slicing open his right eye in the fifth round on his way to winning a convincing unanimous decision that seemed to reestablish him in the super featherweight division.

But Morales was struggling now to make that weight, his body rebelling at too long being asked to get down to 130 pounds, so he moved up to 135 but was handily beaten in his first outing by light-hitting Zahir Raheem. That sent Morales back to the safe haven of the super featherweight division and a rematch with Pacquiao. But by the sixth round Saturday night, there seemed to be no safe haven for him anymore.

''The tide turned in the sixth round," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, said. ''He was fading from the body shots and Manny was coming on."

From the sixth round, it was all Pacquiao, although Morales fought back in toe-to-toe exchanges. But he was fighting Pacquiao, time, and his own hard-won résumé.

Late in Round 9, Morales came apart. More and more he seemed to be a brave little man adrift in a sea of pain. ''I was getting hit a lot in the head," Morales said. ''As the rounds went on, I was getting tired. At the end, I felt slow."

When the end came, it was emphatic. A big left from Pacquiao drove Morales to his knees with 30 seconds remaining in Round 10. As Bayless counted to eight, Morales pulled himself up, but gone was his resolve. Mercifully, Pacquiao (41-3-2) made quick work of it, driving Morales back to the canvas with his signature right that had brought him 32 wins by knockout.

Bayless waved his arms, then helped Morales off the floor and to his stool. Morales sat slumped for a long time, a doctor and his cornermen working on him. Then he left for the quiet of his locker room to ponder a boxing future he no longer seemed to have.