18 years ago

Date: 21st January 2006

Venue: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada

Title: WBC Super-featherweight Title Eliminator

Promoter: Top rank

Tv: HBO PPV

Manny Pacquiao
( 40 - 3 - 2 )
Weight: 128½ lbs

Erik Morales
( 48 - 3 - 0 )
Weight: 130 lbs

On January 21, 2006, Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales squared off for the second time in the ring at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. This super featherweight bout was distributed by HBO Pay-per-view and promoted by Top Rank. The fight was a WBC International Super Featherweight Title defense and also a WBC Super Featherweight Title Eliminator.

The bout was the second in the Pacquiao-Morales trilogy, with Morales winning their first encounter ten months prior. Pacquiao was seeking revenge, and he did not disappoint. He dominated the fight from the start and handed Morales the worst beating of his career.

Kenny Bayless was the referee for the match, and he had to stop the fight at 2:33 of the 10th round, as Morales was taking a significant amount of punishment from Pacquiao. The Filipino fighter had thoroughly outclassed Morales throughout the fight, and the result was a 10th-round TKO in favor of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao's victory was an impressive performance and showed his determination to avenge his loss to Morales. This fight marked Pacquiao's return to HBO and his first fight in his four-year contract with Top Rank as his promoter. He earned $2 million for the fight, solidifying his status as one of boxing's top earners.

Shortly after losing to Morales in their first encounter, Pacquiao had claimed to have felt dizzy and weak due to dehydration from his weight cut. However, in the second fight, he appeared to have no such issues and was in top form throughout the bout.