By L.P. PELAYO
Sports Editor

LAS VEGAS — Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s return trip to Sin City was not a pleasant one as he lost a close unanimous decision to Mexican foe Erik “El Terrible” Morales at the MGM Grand Garden Arena here Saturday night in front of 14,623.

All three judges, Paul Smith, Dave Moretti and Chuck Giampa, scored it 115-113, or seven rounds to five for Morales.

The good news is that Malacañang said the Filipino boxer will be treated like a hero when he returns to the Philippines despite his loss.

Press Secretary and Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said: “The President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) considers Manny Pacquiao an authentic Filipino sports hero. The Palace will always be open to Manny Pacquiao. We’re prepared to accept him at his convenience.”

Bunye said Pacquiao exhibited the Filipino fighting spirit and showed a good example by doing his best despite the odds. He said the respect of Filipinos towards Pacquiao has not diminished and that weaker boxers would have given up if left with just one eye.

“He showed the heart of a warrior. But we believe Manny will bounce back from his defeat and will go on to greater heights,” he said.

Morales, 48-2, (34 knockouts), bounced back from his November defeat at the hands of archrival Marco Antonio Barrera by battling the tough Filipino superstar, 39-3-2, (30 knockouts), for 12 grueling rounds enroute to a razor thin unanimous decision win.

For somebody of his pedigree, Morales entered his contest with Pacquiao as a substantial underdog, but Pacquiao was riding a wave of public support after his destruction of Barrera in 2003 and his controversial draw with Juan Manuel Marquez last year, whom he dropped three times in the opening round of their bout.

In the opening round of the bout, Pacquiao came out a bit more measured than many people expected him to. He did not just rush at Morales, but actually threw a few jabs at him. The latter was content to move around and wait for Pacquiao to make his charge.

As soon as “Pacman” made that charge at Morales the fight was on! Pacquiao landed a clean combination to the head of Morales and the next thing you knew, the two were trading toe-to-toe, with both fighters launching and landing furious powershots.

In the second round, the devastating flush powershots would continue to land for both fighters, but Morales appeared to have the edge in the round by pressing forward after Pacquiao and crushing him with wicked right hands that had the power punching Filipino raising his hands in an attempt to indicate that Morales could not hurt him.

By the time of the fifth round, Morales started with much the same as the previous round, pressing after Pacquiao, while “Pacman” moved straight back, with little idea of how to fight off his back foot. As they had done all fight long, the warriors would once again engage in a give and take firefight, but this time Pacquiao would come away with a cut right eye that was ruled to have been caused by a punch.

Upon further review, it was apparent the cut was actually caused by an accidental headbutt and not a punch. The doctor was called in to observe the cut and it appeared that Pacquiao was severely bothered by the bleeding, there was even speculation amongst the media that Pacquiao may inform the ringside doctor that he could not continue.

After a long delay by the doctor to assess the slashed right eye, Pacquiao was allowed to continue and finished the round throwing hard combination shots to the head of Morales.

In the ninth round the nonstop furious punching action finally started to take a toll on Morales, as he visibly slowed during the round, choosing to move more and potshot Pacquiao whenever the opportunity presented itself.

For his part, Pacquiao continued to do what worked for him throughout the bout, ripping multiple combination shots from the southpaw stance straight down the pipe on Morales. As had been the case for most of the fight, the two combatants would once again stand toe-to-toe at bells end.

The 12th and final round began much the same as the previous 11th. Most of the rounds in the bout were extremely close, and all of them were very competitive. Morales was looking to pop his jab in the face of Pacquiao, while the latter was shooting his combination punches at Morales.

Morales must have felt he had the bout in hand because he switched to southpaw and Pacquiao cracked him with a left hand that had Morales on wobbled legs. Pacquiao immediately saw that Morales was hurt, attacking with nonstop aggression.

Morales, showcasing an iron chin, was able to weather the storm from Pacquiao, going on to take a unanimous decision.

During the entire affair, the knowledgeable fight fans in attendance, and even the media were in awe at what they were witnessing.

Filipino-American Derek Santos from Los Angeles said, “It was not a single round, or even two or three rounds where they put on a display of heart, courage and determination, but it was 12 full rounds of nonstop action that Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao treated boxing fans to.”

At the post-fight press conference Morales said, “He was a tough guy. I hit him with everything. I knew the guy was quick. I knew boxing would be the key because he was so fast.’’

“I tried my best,’’ a distraught Pacquiao said.

“I wasn’t focused on them stopping the fight,’’ he said. “I wanted to punish him.’’

Pacquiao, wearing a dark pair of glasses, did not put the blame on anyone in his team when asked about his thoughts, but expressed his desire to make a comeback.

“I will be back probably to fight in this division again,” said Pacquiao, whose loss disappointed thousands of Filipino-Americans from the States, as well as several Filipino politicians and actors, who had flown to Las Vegas to give him support.