Erik Morales harbors a mean streak inside that borders on sadism. Remember his taunting pose over a defeated fighter two years ago?
Though most see the Tijuana gladiator on his best behavior, at times the dark side of Morales pierces through like a push-button knife in a street fight. He loves combat.
When Morales faces Filipino bomber Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2, 31 KOs) on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the fight world will be curious to see which fighter turns up, the sadist or the elite fighter capable of using his boxing skills for 12 rounds. The fight will be shown on HBO pay-per-view.
During the last five years, the fighter known as ?El Terrible? has attacked like a hungry dog ravaging any obstacle blocking a juicy porterhouse steak. From In-jin Chi to Marco Antonio Barrera, his fists flashed angrier than anyone in the 130-pound division.
But in the past, Morales has proven he can be as scientific as anyone such as in his wins against Guty Espadas in their first fight and Paulie Ayala.
Against Pacquiao, he faces a fighter who has left 31 foes in a prone position.
?Pacquiao?s a great warrior, the battles with Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera showed that,? said Morales (47-2, 34 KOs) by telephone. ?He?s always going forward. It?s obvious they think he will be able to do the same thing with me.?
Morales, 28, strives to be Mexico?s number one fighter, the defender of Tricolor. It?s what drove him to fight Barrera three times.
Growing up in a border town tends to make a person feel inadequate. In deep Mexico, many consider Tijuana to be more American than Mexican. It?s probably this type of thinking that drives Morales and others from his town toward extraordinary accomplishments.
And when someone mentions Barrera?s name its like poking Morales with a white-hot iron prod.
?I don?t even care what Barrera says,? said Morales, who then made some derogatory comments about one of Barrera?s parents. ?I don?t care what he says I could care less.?
But it?s the Mexico City-born Barrera that fuels Morales?s passion.
When Barrera suffered a crushing knockout defeat against Junior Jones in 1996, then another successive loss to the Brooklyn fighter, Tijuana?s Morales jumped right in and destroyed the feared knockout puncher in four rounds.
Morales abhors the aristocratic Barrera and his middle class upbringing more than he acknowledges.
?Barrera wants to see me get beat, I don?t care what he says in public,? said Morales with anger resonating in his voice. ?I fight the best that I can.?
The lightning fast fists of Pacquiao stand in Morales way. He knows it won?t be an easy task. But it?s the only way to erase the stench of defeat at the hands of Barrera that occurred last November.
It was two years ago, November 2003, when Pacquiao met Barrera in San Antonio and promptly steamrolled the Mexican warrior like so many paper cups laid out before his path.
Then, last May, the fighter known as Pac-man met another Mexico City fighter named Juan Manuel Marquez and proceeded to drop him three times in the first round with his thunderous left hand. But it wasn?t enough as the scientific Mexican fighter recovered and boxed his way to a draw. Marquez kept his IBF and WBA featherweight belts, but barely.
It was back-to-back impressive performances against two-thirds of Mexico?s triumvirate of terror. Now comes the final curtain.
?Morales is more popular than Marquez so it will be more exciting,? said Pacquiao, 26, while training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. ?He has a different style than Barrera.?
Freddie Roach, who trains Pacquiao, said the fight against Marquez taught his prot?g? a lesson in boxing.
?There were a lot of things Manny could have done to win that fight,? Roach said at his Wild Card gym. ?Now that he?s been through it, he realizes he has to do more to beat a guy like Erik Morales. He has to use his boxing skills.?
Morales realizes he faces a daunting task but relishes an opportunity to show that he and his native city are more than capable.
?All I?m thinking about is winning the fight, if a knockout comes, great, all I?m going to do is give a great fight,? Morales said. ?Something the fans can remember me by.?
Castillo vs. Morel Little has been mentioned, but Martin ?El Gallo? Castillo?s defense of his WBA junior bantamweight title against former flyweight king Eric Morel is a great match.
Mexico City?s Castillo, who is managed by Frank Espinosa, had some hard luck fights until finally battering undefeated Alexander Munoz last December for 12 rounds. He should have been champion several years earlier when he manhandled then champion Felix Machado for six rounds. But when he suffered a cut on the top of his head, the referee, on orders from the doctor, stopped the fight. It was a ridiculous stoppage. But then the scorecards were read and they proved to be even more ridiculous in having Machado ahead.
Morel is no slouch. The speedy Puerto Rican fighter dominated the 112-pound division but the weight loss was hurting him. Finally he succumbed to Lorenzo Parra in December 2003.
Aside from the regular Mexico versus Puerto Rico rivalry, both fighters can scrap, box and fight with that championship intensity few other fighters possess.
The Contender After three shows NBC?s the Contender has proven to be an enticing program that features some of the best middleweight prospects in the world.
Ishe Smith?s (15-0, 7 KOs) victory over Ahmed Kaddour (18-1, 9 KOs), shown on Sunday, was climactic. It was preceded by two weeks of each fighter bashing the other, so when they finally met, it was a natural conclusion.
But toward the end of Sunday?s program, Sylvester Stallone closed the show by announcing that one of the defeated fighters will be returning.
That one sentence makes the entire series ridiculous.
Basically, Stallone and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are saying they want to bring back Peter Manfredo Jr. because they want an Italian to win the contest. If you watched the first show, you already know that Alfonso Gomez defeated Manfredo. The audience was told in the beginning of the show that if a fighter loses a fight, he is out. Some knowledgeable boxing people are saying that Manfredo is the fighter returning to the show. Even if it were any of the other two losers it?s not a true contest unless every fighter has the same equal chance to lose twice.
There is no excuse for bringing back someone who already lost. If the producer decides to do this, what?s the point?
U.S. Amateur Championships Riverside?s Kaliesha West leads a number of Southern California fighters heading to Colorado to attempt to be national champions in their weight class this week.
Along with West at 114 pounds, will be Maywood?s Elizabeth Garcia 110 pounds, Maywood?s Lissette Medel 132 pounds, East L.A.?s Elizabeth Quevedo 145 pounds and Maywood?s Charles Huerta at 119 pounds attempting to bring back the national title.
Quevedo will be attempting to win her third consecutive title at the welterweight level.
West is a junior at Moreno Valley High School in California.
Tijuana fight card Guilty Promotions will have a fight card featuring Humberto Soto and Gamaliel Diaz separate fights at El Foro in Tijuana, Mexico on Friday.
Soto is ranked number two as a featherweight and Diaz is ranked number 15 in the same weight division.
For ticket information call (631) 258-9905.
K-1 Grand Prix From Seoul, Korea comes the K-1 Grand Prix featuring Carter Williams facing Peter Aerts, former boxer Ray Mercer against Remy Bonjasky, Kaokial Kaennorsing against Zhang Qing Jun and Akebono versus Nobuaki Kakuda. The fight card begins at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and can be watched on pay-per-view live.
Fights on television Fri. ESPN2, 7 p.m., Leonard Pierre (16-0) vs. John Duddy (8-0). Fri. Telefutura, 9 p.m., Juan Carlos Rubio (30-7-3) vs. Michael Stewart (37-3-2). Sat. HBO pay-per-view, 6 p.m., Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2) vs. Erik Morales (47-2); Martin Castillo (27-1) vs. Eric Morel (35-1); Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (16-0) vs. Ryan Maraldo (19-15-1). Sun. Pay-per-view, 6p.m. (Pacific time), K-1 Grand Prix from Seoul, Korea.
