LOS ANGELES – What does the future hold for Erik Morales? After absorbing a TKO loss to Manny Pacquiao over the weekend in Las Vegas, even those who are close to the Tijuanan native could tell what’s on his mind.
Morales and Top Rank publicist Ricardo Jimenez, who should know because he is one of his closest confidants, is clueless about the fighter’s plans.
“He will take some time off — as far as I know there is no real deadline for a decision on his future — Erik is back home in San Diego, his wife is due in February and he has some fighters he promotes under the Box Latino Promotions banner,” Jimenez said on Wednesday.
Jimenez added: “He has two —Lorenzo Trejo and Jackie Nava— fighting this weekend in Cancun. On Feb. 18 in Las Vegas, he has Jose Antonio Aguirre going for a world title against Brian Viloria. Trejo is also fighting a Filipino fighter (Rodel Mayol) on Saturday (in Cancun, Mexico).”
Ringsiders are split regarding Morales’ future plans,. But some believe the former world super-bantamweight and world featherweight champion will stage a comeback and not go gently into the night.
But there are also those who think Morales won’t let another fight ruin his image. Coming into the second Pacquiao fight that the Filipino won via a 10th round technical knockout at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Morales had also sustained a 12-round unanimous decision defeat to Zahir Raheem.
Morales has never taken back-to-back losses and had never suffered a knockout loss in a career that spanned over a decade.
