August 4, 2007

By Francisco Salazar / Photos: Big Joe Miranda


With his place in the Hall of Fame secure, 30-year-old, three-division world champion Erik Morales (48-5, 34 KOs) will attempt to add to his legend tonight when he challenges WBC lightweight champion (32-1-1, 17 KOs) at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, IL.

The bout will headline a "War for 4" card, presented by Top Rank. The bout will be televised on HBO Pay Per View.

The number four will represent something special to Morales should he walk out of the ring victorious on Saturday night. It will be the first time a champion born in Mexico will have won titles in four different weight classes.

"El Terrible" has won WBC world titles at 122, 126, and 130 pounds.

Although no one questions the heart of the fighter from Zona Norte section on Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, Morales' detractors are pointing to some less than stellar performances in the last two years. Morales has lost four out of his last five bouts (with the win coming against no other than Manny Pacquiao).

Even Morales might have had a notion as to how people were going to react to his decision to keep fighting.

"How many people thought I was not going to fight again?" asked Morales at a recent press conference to hype his fight against Diaz. "I saw this fight as a great opportunity. I do not want to leave this sport when I see an opportunity that I can capitalize."

And he feels strongly about capitalizing on the opportunity to face Diaz. The former 1996 U.S. Olympian won the title in his last fight as he stopped Jose Armando Santa Cruz one year ago in Las Vegas.

With Diaz, Morales can expect a fighter that comes straight at him, which could work to his advantage. Still, it is a very dangerous fight for Morales, who has been stopped in his last two bouts by Manny Pacquiao.

Morales is quick to point out that he struggled to make the 130 pound limit and was weakened entering the ring. He notes that making and fighting at 135 pounds will make him a stronger fighter.

"You will see Erik fighting at a good weight," said Morales, who is 48-5, with 34 KO's. "I had great training and conditioning for this fight (in the Otomi mountains).

While the training and conditioning sounds like the right recipe for any fighter, Morales did fight at the lightweight limit almost two years ago. In what looked like a slam-dunk of a fight for Morales, Morales faced Zahir Raheem in a 12 round fight. Boxing experts picked Morales because of the inexperience of Raheem, but were shocked along with the rest of the boxing world when Raheem outboxed him to win a unanimous decision.

Diaz does not have a noticeable big-name fighter other than Santa Cruz on his ledger. Morales supporters sense that Diaz has the perfect style for Morales. However, Morales is taking Diaz seriously and is not overlooking the fighter out of Chicago.

"What makes him a dangerous fighter to me is that I can't compare him to the other fighters that I have faced," said Morales, who will enter the fight as the betting underdog, according to Vegas sports books. "I have prepared to the best of my ability and am preparing myself for a good fight."

Morales continued, "I know he is a fighter who fought in the Olympics and has that experience. He may be a strong fighter, but he has not faced the level of fighters that I have faced."

Although Diaz is older in age, critics will also point that Morales will not be able to cope with the aggressive style of Diaz. Whereas Morales will have the experience factor to his advantage, it will be interesting to see how aggressive Diaz will be and for how long.

Still, it will come down to see if Morales earn a place in boxing history. He is grateful to Top Rank and Bob Arum for securing a world title fight despite the recent losses. However, the four championships will represent something so great coming from a country that gave boxing hundreds of champions, from Julio Cesar Chavez to Salvador Sanchez.

"It will be a great honor to fight for a fourth title," reflected Morales, who will have his father Jose as his trainer again in his corner. "Winning this fight will mean everything."

Especially if this could be his last bout. Should he win, Morales was evasive if he would fight again. A loss to Diaz would almost certainly remove Morales from the world title scene, although he could possibly with a series of farewell fights.

It would be hard for the boxing world to adjust to not having Morales thrill them in big fights against some future fellow Hall of Famers. For at least one more night, Morales will hope to be at his best in winning a world title and giving fight fans in Chicago and on television something to cheer about.

Morales always tends to surprise boxing fans and critics. No one questions the heart of Morales, which will sure to get another test against Diaz. Still, Morales is ready and proves to be just the same fighter, if not better because he is fighting at a weight where he feels comfortable. Most important, he firmly believes that he can win on Saturday night.

"I think you're going to see a good show, I think you're going to see a great fight, and to be very honest with you, I really think I can win."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I fukin hope Morales win this one.Hes a tough hombre & it'd be good to see him get the belt back.
WAR MORALES!

Erik Morales Ends His Career Like a Champion

By Sammy Rozenberg

The career of Erik Morales came to a close on a high note, but not as high as he wanted. David Diaz (33-1-1, 17 KOs) won a hard fought unanimous decision over Morales (48-5, 34 KOs) to retain his WBC lightweight title at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.

The fight began with a bang as Diaz was pressing the action in the first round with his power and size. Towards the end of the round, he had Morales rocked against the ropes and was trying to put him away. During the exchange, Morales landed a huge right hand to send Diaz down on his back in the closing seconds. The knockdown immediately changed the tempo of the fight.

A lot of experts predicted a shot Erik Morales would enter the ring, that Morales must have stayed home.

Morales was picking his shots, boxing and landing plenty of hard right hands that wobbled the legs of Diaz. By the fourth, there was very bad swelling under the right eye of Diaz. Morales was throwing crisp combinations while Diaz's counters mostly hits gloves in the first six rounds.

After a sense of urgency, Diaz began to press more of the action in the second half of the fight, while Morales played the role of the counter-puncher. Diaz would trap Morales against the ropes often, trying to wear him down with non-stop punching. Morales would block many of the shots, but some would get through and do damage on occasion.

Diaz began to rally in the tenth as Morales was beginning to appear exhausted. Morales came right back in the eleventh to box Diaz all over the ring as it was Diaz who looked tired. The final round saw Diaz pull out all the stops with punches to the head and body as a shaken up, tired Morales tried to hang on to the final bell. Rather than sit on what he felt was a win in the bank, Morales began to fight in the final minute.

When the final bell rang, Diaz was unloading the kitchen. Morales was so tired that he was barely able to make to his corner. The crowd stood and applauded in appreciation.

Diaz threw more, but landed less and connected at a lower percentage. He threw 733 and landed 161, for 22%. Morales landed 169 of 584 punches for a 29% tally.

The scores were 114-113, 115-112 and 115-113.

Morales announced his retirement after the fight and told the live crowd that he was not going to continue with his career. He lost on the cards, yet many in the arena felt he deserved the decision. There was plenty of boos coming down during Diaz's post-fight interview .

Morales, after being stopped in his last two fights, goes out on a high note and what a remarkable career he had.

At the young age of 21-years, Morales appeared on HBO to win his first major title by stopping hall-of-famer Daniel Zaragoza to win the WBC super bantamweight title El Paso, Texas in 1997. He would go on to successfully defend the belt seven times against tough competition, including Junior Jones and Wayne McCullough.

In February of 2000, he opened the eyes of the boxing world by battling career rival Marco Antonio Barrera in a fight of the year encounter to add the WBO's version of the super bantamweight title to his waist. The split decision win over Barrera, although controversial, put him right on the boxing map.

One year later, he won the vacant WBC featherweight title by winning a decision over Guty Espades. A few months later he would go to war with In-Jin Chi to win a tough decision at the Staples Center. Eleven months later, Morales tasted defeat for the first time in his career when he lost a controversial decision to Marco Antonio Barrera in what was a highly anticipated rematch.

He would rebound from the Barrera loss to beat Paulie Ayala and knock out Guty Espades Jr. In February 2004, he would win a decision over Jesus Chavez to win the WBC super featherweight and put himself in the records books by joining his idol Julio Cesar Chavez as the only two Mexican fighters to win three titles in three separate weight divisions. It only took another five months before he entered the ring again to unify the WBC/WBA super featherweight title by decisioning Carlos Hernandez.

After winning two super featherweight titles, he would return four months later to fight Marco Antonio Barrera in another twelve round classic to complete their three-fight trilogy, which became another fight of year winner (and made Barrera the third Mexican fighter to win three titles in three weight divisions). He would lose a close majority decision that night, but came right back in March 2005 to win a war of attrition over
Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao. To this day, Morales is still the only Mexican fighter to hold a win over Pacquiao.

Shortly after his conquest of Pacquiao, Morales made his first move to the lightweight division against the unheralded Zahir Raheem. Morales underestimated the speed and boxing ability of Raheem, who easily outboxed him to win a lopsided decision. Many experts called the Raheem loss the beginning of the end for Morales.

He would go back to the well in 2006, maybe twice to often, against Pacquiao. He would put his body through hell to make the 130-pound weight limit for the final two bouts of their trilogy. The struggle to make weight was apparent by his sluggish performances in both fights. Many have said that Morales simply got old. Pacquiao dished out two brutal beatings in each of those fights, stopping Morales in both.

He saw Diaz as a way to end his career by becoming the first Mexican fighter to win four titles in four weight divisions. Instead, he came away a winner in defeat by once again giving an impressive, action-packed performance to the boxing public.

On the undercard;

Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (33-0-1, 26 KOs) stopped Louis Brown (15-3, 10 KOs) after five rounds of punishment. Chavez called out Alfonso Gomez after the fight.

great fight, just like all the morales fights.

One of the best Mexico had to offer

Morales is the man!