It was a battle of wills, a sequel to their scintillating first encounter last March, in which a smarter, sharper Erik Morales won a clear unanimous decision. But this time, it was all "Pac-Man", as the Filipino freight train rolled right over Morales, stopping him for the first time in his career in the 10th round last night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

When referee Kenny Bayless asked Manny Pacquiao if he had any questions after giving him his pre-fight instructions in his dressing room, Pacquiao wanted verification that a fighter couldn't be save by the bell in the 12th round. It was a glimpse of what Pacquiao had in mind for his opponent. Shots of the normally at ease Morales looking quiet and tense in his dressing room alluded to the drama that would unfold in the ring later that night.

With Morales coming off an embarrassing loss and Pacquiao a spectacular win, the odds favoured the Filipino. But once the fight began, it looked a lot like the first one, with Morales using a high guard and picking his shots while taking the first round. Pacquiao's constant punching even things up in the second, but Morales' countered the Filipino's relentless attack with his own Mexican version of intensity, holding his own, landing his jab and taking the 3rd and 4th rounds. But Morales wasn't employing the tempered ratio of offense and defense he used in their first fight, and his ferocious two-fisted assaults on "Pac-Man" proved to be an ominous sign of things to come. While Morales is known to fade down the stretch, Pacquiao can fight all night long.

Morales, a future hall-of-famer with more than adequate defensive skills, stubbornly and arrogantly chose to trade to often with the harder-hitting and quicker Pacquiao, who for this fight wore his favoured Cleto Reyes gloves. They proved to be a factor, as the accumulation of punches seemed to be getting to "El Terrible". By the 6th round, Morales was off-balanced and seemed was quickly running out of gas, As Pacquiao was fresher and on the verge of launching a comeback.

The two warriors traded hard shots for the next three rounds, with Morales getting the worst of it. At the end of the 9th, Morales did something which he'd never done before in his illustrious career, and which his fans booed him for: he ran. In the 10th, Pacquiao attacked the Mexican like a pitbull, and the normally game Morales had nothing left. He went down, more out of exhaustion than anything, and when he rose, Pacquiao finished him off, knocking him down again and causing Bayless to stop the fight. Morales, 48-4 (34), his left eye swollen and almost completely closed, suffered the worst beating of his career.

Pacquiao, 41-3-2 (32), deserves credit for being the first fighter ever to not only floor Morales, but to stop him (a slip by Morales in his first fight with Marco Antonio Barrera was officially ruled a knockdown). Pacquiao, who started his career at 108 pounds, retains more of his power at 130 than the naturally bigger Morales, who was most effective at 122 and 126.

Morales' ego cost him the fight, which he appeared to be winning until his habit of fighting unintelligibly got the better of him. The future does not look good for Morales, who is stuck at a crossroads. On the one side, there is the opportunity of a rematch with Zahir Raheem, who already beat him once and made him look ordinary. Then there is the chance of a fourth fight with Barrera, which would not prove anything, except perhaps the surging Barrera's superiority. An immediate rematch with Pacquiao would not be the best move, either. And though Morales complained about making weight at 130, venturing into the territory occupied by Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo and Acelino Freitas would be career suicide.

On the other hand, Manny Pacquiao's options are alluring. He could offer Morales a rematch, or he could seek to fight Raheem or even a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. But the fight fans will be clamouring for is a rematch with Barrera. Beating a focused and rejuvenated Barrera might be a hard task to repeat, but a rematch is inevitable.

Whatever the cards hold for Manny Pacquiao, there is no other fighter in the world who can boast of knocking out both Barrera and Morales. Hall-of fame stuff for sure.