Erik Morales loses to Danny Garcia, new WBC light welterweight champion.
At the weigh-in, one day before Erik “El Terrible” Morales’ (52-8, 36KO’s) fight against Danny Garcia (23-0,14KO’s), Morales came in two pounds over weight. He did not attempt to lose the two pounds and accepted the fine. He later explained that losing weight in a previous fight had hurt him and he was more concerned about the weight issue than the belt. Even though he is the first Mexican fighter to win four different world titles in four weight divisions, some felt this was no excuse to not make the weight. Nevertheless, if you saw the fight, the weight issue wasn’t the deciding factor in his loss to the younger Garcia.
At the beginning of fight in the early rounds, it looked like that the younger Garcia was being a little too cautious, as he only counter- punched and moved backward. In addition to that, Morales was the one putting on the pressure by moving forward and trying to land his over hand right. Morales also was able to land a few uppercuts on Garcia in the early rounds and he was ahead on the cards. At the end of the third round, Garcia was able to land three right hands to the head of Morales as he was on the ropes. Although this did not seem to hurt Morales, this is where Garcia started to become more confident.
In rounds four through the sixth, Morales continued with the pressure as Garcia just continued to counter. To me, it looked like the “Swift” Garcia didn’t seem that swift at all. But his plan from the beginning to wear down the older Morales and take over in the later rounds would later come to fruition. That said, Morales was still ahead on the cards by the end of the sixth, and Morales actually had stunned and hurt Garcia, but the round ended. The seventh round was even, and at the end of the round Garcia was moving backward and missing with wild punches as Morales backed him up to the ropes.
In the eighth, Morales continued the pressure as he tried to land with his overhand right as Garcia continued to counter his way out. Morales then caught Garcia with a short uppercut and Garcia landed a right and left to the head of Morales as the round ended.
The ninth round is where it was apparent that Morales was getting tired and that is the only reason the “Swift” Garcia looked faster. At the beginning of the tenth round, HBO analysts only had Garcia ahead by one point. But it was apparent to me that Morales had only one choice, and that is to get a knockout, or try to win the last three rounds convincingly. Unfortunately for Morales, he got caught by a punch by Garcia in the eleventh and he we went down to the canvas. He quickly got up but this was the beginning of the end. After Morales took the count, Garcia attempted to finish it and he landed a triple combination as the bell sounded. In the last round, Morales did not look like the Morales of old, unfortunately, he just looked old. It may be that Morales’ last fight may have been against Maidana. When asked if he would continue to fight, Morales said “I have to think about it. I truly have to think about it.” The judge’s scorecard read 117-110, 116-112 |and 118-109, all for the new WBC light welterweight champion, Danny Garcia.
Zab Judah wins in New York for another title shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzBEY3cjdfM
Zab “Super” Judah (42-7, 29KO’s) may still have super powers in the boxing ring after all. It only took him nine rounds to defeat the number one ranked IBF contender and undefeated Vernon Paris (26-1, 15 KO’s) in Brooklyn New York on Saturday night. This was a crossroads fight for Judah and for Paris. For Paris, it was his big chance to defeat a former world champion for a chance at his first title. For Judah it may be his last chance to win another world title to add to his collection of championship belts. This win could set up a possible rematch against the winner of the Amir Khan/Lamont Peterson light welterweight championship fight on May 19th of this year. Whoever Judah fights, it is going to be an exciting fight.
“Latin Legend” Luis Yanez wins in San Antonio for third and final match.
Luis “Latin Legend” Yanez (6-0-1) of Dallas, Texas defended his Super Flyweight Texas Champion title against Joseph Rios (10-7-2, 4 KO’s) in his hometown of San Antonio on Saturday night. This was the third and final match between these fighters where Yanez won the first fight by a unanimous decision and the second by a draw. On Saturday, the cards of two of the judges read 79-73 for Yanez and the third card had it at 77-75 for Rios. Now that Yanez has avenged the draw that was on his record, the question now is, who is next? According to sources, Yanez has several fights lined up for 2012 and that is what is needed for his professional career to take off. Boxing fans in Dallas look forward to seeing more of Yanez and more of the boxing excitement needed in this town.
Andy “the Destroyer” Ruiz continues undefeated heavyweight record.
Mexican Heavyweight Andy “the Destroyer” Ruiz, Jr. (14-0, 8KO’s), defeated Homero Fonseca (9-5, 2KO‘s) on the undercard of the Diego Magdaleno (21-0, 7 KO’s) and Miguel Beltran (26-1, 17 KO’s) fight in Tucson, Arizona this weekend. He continues his undefeated march in his young heavyweight career as an up and coming heavyweight fighter for Top Rank. Remember his name because you will be hearing it in the near future.
Photo © Stacey Verbeek
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
