Erik “El Terrible” Morales (52-7, 36KO’s), current WBC Welterweight Champion of the World is 35 years old and some might say his time is over. If you speak to Morales, he and Oscar De La Hoya think otherwise. Not only is it not over for Morales, but Golden Boy Promotions has him scheduled for several more fights in 2012. That is not to say that the great Mexican champion has overlooked the 24 year old young and undefeated Danny Garcia (22-0,14KO’s). The fight is scheduled on March 24, 2012 at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas and will be televised by HBO Championship Boxing.
If you look at the boxing record of Garcia, you see a young up and coming fighter who does have an undefeated record, but not enough experience to defeat Morales. Although Garcia is a good fighter, in four of his last fights he has fought opponents who were 30, 31, 32, and 40 years old. Against Nate Campbell (33-7-1), who is 40 years old, he had to go the distance to get a decision for the win. I will give him credit against Kendall Holt (27-4-0), who is 30 years old and who does have an impressive record, but it still took a split decision to get the win.
If you didn’t know who “El Terrible” has fought in his career, let me enlighten you on who has been on his hit list. He fought Daniel Zaragoza (55-7-3), where he collected his first WBC Bantamweight Title. After numerous defenses against the likes of Junior Jones (44-3-0), he went on to fight Marco “the Baby Faced Assassin” Antonio Barrera (67-7,44KO’s) in three ferocious battles of Mexican boxing lore. He won the first fight and Barrera won the next two fights several years later. Morales has fought Fort Worth’s Paulie Ayala (35-3, 12KO’s), Jesus Chavez (44-8, 30KO’s), three fights against the pound for pound king of the ring, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (54-3, 38KO’s) [Morales won the first fight by unanimous decision], and most recently, Marcos “el Chino” Maidana (31-3, 28KO’s), to mention a few.
In his career, he is the first Mexican fighter to win world titles in four different weight classes, which include WBC & IBF Super Featherweight, WBC Featherweight and WBC & WBO Super Bantamweight Championship belts. Although he took a short retirement in 2009 after a controversial loss to David Diaz (36-4, 17 KO’s), he came back in 2011 to take on Marcos Maidana. In this fight he went up in weight and most thought he did not have a chance, but he went the distance, but the weight made the difference in the loss.
Although Garcia is quoted as saying “He is a crafty veteran, smart, knows how to fight, how to win. — He has had his time to shine. Come Saturday night, there will be a new champion,” he is in for a big surprise.
But Morales is on a mission after his loss to Diaz and his experience as a technician in the ring, will make the difference. Morales is also quoted as saying “Boxing is not just about strength and a few words, to beat a young man, to beat his speed, his dream, his hunger, I will show I’m still at the top level. — My motivation is for bigger and better fights beyond this fight. The word “loss” does not cross my mind.” I agree with this and that is why Morales will either win by knockout or unanimous decision. Also scheduled to fight is junior middleweight contenders James Kirkland and Carlos Molina on the undercard.
Photo © Stacey Verbeek
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