It was billed as the “War for 4” with Erik Morales fighting for his fourth weight class world championship. The fight lived up to its billing as it was a war with Diaz denying Morales his attempt at history by winning a close yet unanimous decision. The official scores were 114-113, 115-113, and 115-112.
Fifteen minutes before the first televised fight, it was clear that Chicago would do well by tonight’s action. Before a single man would enter the ring, at least two-thirds of the 9,735 fans in attendance were filing into the arena in preparation for a four-fight televised card (on HBO PPV) that would not feature a single fighter over the 154 lb. division.
It was from this electric fan-base that Erik Morales and WBC lightweight champion David Diaz would be greeted with near-equal amounts of boos and cheers in a partisan atmosphere made up of two kinds of fans: Native Chicagoans and Mexican-Americans. It was often difficult to know which fans were cheering for Diaz or Morales.
It was on this stage that home fighter Diaz (33-1-1, 17 KOs) would overcome an early knockdown to outwork the great Morales (48-6, 34 KOs) in the late stages, to cement a close, a twelve-round unanimous decision.
The intense back and forth action kicked off immediately, with Diaz, 31, pressing the action and stinging his challenger twice, before walking onto a Morales right that sent him to the canvas. Diaz got up quickly and shook his head, signaling that the blow did not hurt him.
Southpaw Diaz would come on in the second round and continue with an aggressive attack that would often place Morales, 30, against the ropes looking to return fire. The action was back and forth and intense through rounds three through six, with Morales seemingly taking many of these rounds with a solid jab, clean right hands to the head and body, and good foot movement.
The action was often dirty, with Diaz muscling Morales with shoulders and forearms, in this gritty and draining battle. But Diaz wouldn’t remain unscathed – he developed ugly bruising and swelling over the right eye thanks to Morales’ accurate jab.
In round seven the tables would turn, with Diaz marching forward with clubbing assaults to head and body, with Morales tiring against the ropes, with little room to land his sharp right hands. Morales turned the tide back in his favor in the ninth with clean combination punching and his jab.
However, Diaz put in the stronger finish over the championship rounds. It was his activity in the last two rounds that made the difference for Diaz: the judges were split on who was leading the fight going into the eleventh, with Diaz being down one point on one card, up on another, and tied with Morales on the third.
For Diaz, this was a special night for the champion. He retained his title in his hometown, and addressing the crowd he exclaimed, “This has been a dream of mine since 1993,” but was realistic about his achievement when he said, “I kept telling you guys five pounds would make a difference (Morales was moving up from the 130-pound class) and (that) this was going to be a tough fight. Five pounds makes a difference.”
At the post-fight press conference, Diaz would say, “I came here to fight…I did what I had to do to win.” When asked about the scoring, he acknowledged that the fight was close going into the final rounds: “I knew I had to win at least the last three rounds.”
Finally, Diaz continued to proclaim his respect for Morales: “He is a great champion and you cannot take anything away from him… He has nothing to hang his head about, he is going to the hall of fame.” However, the post-fight press conference saw Morales and his father arguing with Diaz over some Diaz punches during the fight that the Morales team thought involved illegal use of the elbows.
In coming up short in this fight and through a translator the post-fight press conference saw Morales give his assessment of the fight and announce his retirement from the sport: “We tried to make an intelligent fight, unfortunately we had a fighter in front of us that was always putting pressure…I would like to share with you guys that this is the last time that you will see me in the ring.”
Promoter Bob Arum’s reflections on Morales’ career were one of great reverence and appreciation: “We are so proud of Erik, he did not get the decision, but he fought like a true champion…I do not remember any fighter that we have promoted that gave more of himself in the ring than Erik Morales.”
UNDERCARD ACTION
Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (33-0-1, 26 KOs) remained undefeated with a fifth round demolition of Louis Brown (15-3, 10, KOs) in a junior middleweight encounter. Chavez Jr coolly dismantled the gritty Brown with left hooks, body shots and hard rights. Brown’s effort made this fight a surprisingly exciting lead-in to the main event, despite the dramatic size difference between the two. Chavez Jr floored Brown with a left hook to the body. The fifth would see the referee halt the fight at 2:33 after two right hand leads from the improving 21-year-old.
Juan Manuel Lopez (19-0, 17 KOs) remained undefeated and retained his WBO Latino super bantamweight championship with a TKO stoppage of Hugo Dianzo (31-12-1, 15 KOs) in round ten. The southpaw Lopez, 24, dominated through much of this uneventful fight behind a solid jab and straight left hand. In the middle of the match a nasty cut opened up on the left side of Dianzo’s head. On advice from the doctor the referee called a halt to the bout at 1:12 of the tenth round. Lopez was docked one point in the seventh for low blows.
Ulises Solis (25-1-2, 19 KOs) scored a spectacular TKO in the eighth round to retain his IBF light flyweight championship against Rodel Mayol (23-2, 18 KOs). Solis operated behind a solid jab, double left hooks to the body and head, and right uppercut counters early on. However, Mayol began to come forward to dominate some of the action in the fourth round. In the sixth round, Mayol put Solis down with a beautiful left hook and had the champion in trouble against the ropes up until the bell. Mayol took the seventh with some solid left uppercuts and looked to gain control of the fight, but in the eighth Solis released a picture-perfect left-right combination to end the night at 1:13.
