LAS VEGAS ? Erik Morales became a wealthy man by boxing but, unlike so many fighters, he has kept his money. He isn?t in financial straits and doesn?t need a big check to pay off a debt or stave off the tax collectors.
Nor does Morales need a victory to cement his status as one of the greatest fighters ever. He?s done more than enough to be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame if he never wins another fight.
Morales also has no need to prove his toughness. He proven he?s as tough as they come in countless battles over the years. His trilogy with Marco Antonio Barrera may be the best in boxing history. His first fight with Manny Pacquiao was epic.
Yet, on Saturday, Morales will climb back into the ring and into big-time boxing for the first time since he was pummeled by David Diaz in 2007. Morales has won three tune-up fights over the last 13 months, but wins over Jose Alfaro, Willie Limond and Francisco Lorenzo don?t mean much in the big picture.
He?ll fight Marcos Maidana, by far the hardest-punching super lightweight in the world, in a 12-round fight in the headliner of an HBO Pay-Per-View card on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
If Morales is anything close to the man who faced Barrera in all-time great matches in 2000, 2002 and 2004, the world is in for a treat on Saturday. Maidana is something of a modern-day Arturo Gatti and the combination of the two of them in top form could produce a highly memorable fight.
The problem, though, is that the bout could be highly memorable for all the wrong reasons, which Morales smilingly alluded to at Thursday?s final news conference.
?After so many interviews, I am starting to say to myself, ?Was this the right decision? Am I the only crazy one that thinks I can win?? ? Morales said. ?When I am alone at night lying in bed, I start thinking to myself, ?I am not wrong.? I didn?t make a mistake picking Maidana. I am going to prove it to you guys on Saturday night. I am going to prove that I wasn?t crazy.?
There are few who agree with him. Maidana is a 7-1 betting favorite and scores of boxing writers have questioned why Golden Boy Promotions matched the two.
Even Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya was concerned at first.
?At first when I thought about the fight, I was like, ?Is Morales crazy? Does he know anything about Maidana?? ? De La Hoya said.
Freddie Roach, the world?s finest trainer, has similar concerns. He was in Pacquiao?s corner in 2005 when Morales edged Pacquiao in a sensational fight.
Roach trained Amir Khan in December when Khan hung on to defeat Maidana in what was voted as the 2010 Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. And Roach, as astute an analyst as there is in the game, can?t see how Morales-Maidana is anything other than a one-sided bludgeoning.
?Maidana is such a tough guy and is such a good puncher,? Roach said Friday. ?I like Erik Morales, but he?s too old and I don?t see anything good happening on Saturday. I think Maidana is going to take care of business quickly. They talked to me about training Maidana. I wanted to take that job, because if he learned to box, he could do some really great things. He has everything else. He?s tough, durable and he punches hard. But I had Amir and Manny in training camp at the same time and he would have been a third guy, so I had to pass on him. I am a big fan of his and think he potentially is a super good fighter.
?My biggest concern about Morales is that his best weight was 122 pounds. He was great at super bantamweight. He was terrific against Barrera at that weight and he did well against Manny at [130], but at 140, he?s just not a big enough puncher. I don?t see anything good happening for him on Saturday. I like him as a person and I wish him well, but I don?t see this ending real well for him.?
There?s no way to get around the fact that Morales appeared to be done after he was defeated by Diaz in a lightweight title fight in 2007. With all due respect to Diaz, he?s a guy Morales would have handled easily in his prime.
After that loss, Morales had lost five of his last six and it didn?t take a genius to see he was no longer the same guy he was a couple of years earlier.
But Morales said there is more to the story. He said that after the first Pacquiao fight, making the super featherweight limit of 130 became all but impossible, but he took two more fights against Pacquiao at that weight anyway. He was torturing himself, he said, to shed the pounds and said he was not able to be himself.
He took the Diaz fight even though he knows he should not have done so.
?I was mentally burned out for that fight,? Morales said. ?I wasn?t ready mentally. I had a lot of questions about myself. I was very upset with myself. I had an inner struggle. Why did I take those rematches with Pacquiao at a weight I knew I couldn?t make any more? I wondered if I could still fight. My showings in those fights were very bad. I wondered if I was still able to fight at a high level and mentally, I wasn?t there for that fight. I was burned out.?
He wouldn?t fight again for 30 months. He said he waited a year before even beginning to think of fighting again and then took another six months to discuss it with his team and determine the best course of action.
He?s beaten three no-names, but he knows that means little. And he?s also aware of the risk he faces, that every boxer faces. Roach struggles daily with Parkinson?s syndrome, the result of taking far too many punches over far too long a period of time. Even ?The Greatest,? the legendary Muhammad Ali, has been silenced by Parkinson?s.
Those who have appreciated Morales? valor, his skill, his willingness to take on anybody, anywhere at any time, now are concerned that he?ll wind up like Roach or Ali. And Morales concedes that he?s aware there is a risk, but it?s one he?s willing to take.
?Look, yeah, it could happen,? Morales said. ?Of course it could happen. It could happen sooner [rather than occurring down the road after retirement]. We don?t have to wait that long. I know it could happen. But maybe it won?t happen. You never know.
?But I will say this: In this short life, I?m doing what I want to do, what I love to do. I?m doing it my way, but I?m well-prepared. I?ve prepared myself correctly.?
He got an unlikely ally in Bob Santos, the trainer of Robert Guerrero. Guerrero fights Michael Katsidis in the co-main event on Saturday and Santos saw Morales working out at a gym in Las Vegas.
Santos said he was surprised by how good Morales looked as he was preparing.
?You know what? Before, I really didn?t think he had too much of a chance in this fight,? Santos said. ?But now, I give him a 40 percent chance to win this fight. I saw the snap on his punches and his legs look very good. I really believe if he can take [Maidana?s] punch to a degree and not get put out, maybe where he gets wobbled and he can tie up and last, he has a good chance to beat this guy.?
The parallels between Morales and two former heavyweight champions are eerily similar. In 1980, Ali fought Larry Holmes and though few gave Ali a chance, he worked hard and stunned the media. It was clear he had transformed his body and suddenly, reporters were rethinking their predictions of a Holmes blowout.
That, though, was a mistake, since Holmes went out and destroyed Ali, punishing him severely and often begging the referee to stop the fight so he didn?t have to punch any more.
Morales, too, has gotten his body into superb shape and he looks better than he has at any point in the last five years.
But there are also parallels to the Nov. 9, 1996, heavyweight title fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Holyfield was 34, the same age Morales is now, and predictions of his demise were everywhere. There was a palpable sense that Holyfield could be hurt, which broadcaster Steve Albert expressed in the third round.
?Past the midway mark of Round 3,? Albert said on the Showtime pay-per-view broadcast that night. ?Not many thought it would go this far.?
?Yours truly being one of them,? said former cruiserweight champion Bobby Czyz, Albert?s broadcast partner that night.
Yet, Holyfield, who was a 24-1 underdog, fought brilliantly and stopped Tyson in the 11th round.
So which Morales will it be? Will it be the one with the sleek, trim body like Ali had against Holmes who nevertheless goes out and gets drilled by a younger, stronger, better opponent? Or will it be the Morales who is like Holyfield, who ignored the critics, who knew that he could once again be elite and then went out and fought like a superstar?
Only time will tell. But Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez, who has seen many of Morales? prefight workouts, insists the skeptics are in for a surprise.
Clearly, Gomez has a vested interest in saying that, because Golden Boy is trying to sell tickets and pay-per-views and it doesn?t help the cause if you say the main event fighter is shot.
Gomez, though, is adamant that, win or lose on Saturday, Morales is prepared and will fight at a high level.
?He looks incredible,? Gomez said. ?He?s taken this fight so seriously. When I made the fight, I thought he was crazy. He wanted to fight this guy. We told him, ?[Expletive], you?re crazy. What?s wrong with you?? He laughed it off and said ?Boxing is about styles.? But he was really confident and I can see why now. He looks tremendous. Tremendous. I saw him and I couldn?t believe how good he looked and all his camp are saying he hasn?t looked this good since the first Pacquiao fight.? Boxing is the most unforgiving of sports and it has swallowed many a great fighter.
We can only pray that Morales is right and knows what he?s doing.
I shudder to think of what may happen if he?s wrong.
