By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Jimuel Pacquiao, the eldest son of boxing’s only eight-division world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, put up another stellar performance and opened his 2023 with a huge amateur victory last February 5, 2023, held in Las Vegas, United States.
The rising Filipino boxing star displayed a hitting clinic and took down the bigger Marco Morales of the US during their three-round match.
Pacquiao hardly broke a sweat against Morales and scored an impressive unanimous decision victory that headlined the “Fights of the Fury” boxing event which was flocked by several names including former world champion Teofimo Lopez.
From an aggressive style of fighting during his past amateur matches, the younger Pacquiao showed another dimension of his growing arsenal and opted to showcase his improved counterpunching.
Morales was the one who brought the fight early on, swinging wild hooks while hounding Pacquiao with his constant pressure.
Pacquiao then adjusted midway through the first round and wowed the crowd with a series of thundering counterpunches.
Those punches not only helped Pacquiao pile up the score but it humbled the surging Morales who backpedaled and just fought in his desired distance.
The next two rounds became another Pacquiao show as the young pug connected on several slick jabs which became his bread and butter during his last three amateur fights.
Before taking on Morales, Pacquiao was riding on a three-fight winning streak after edging Andres Rosales, Jonathan Barajas, and Armand Calara.
However, Pacquaio finally tasted his first defeat when he got out-boxed by Chris Smith several months ago.
This fight then proved to be his redemption performance and is looking to rack up more wins before flying to other amateur boxing circuits.